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JUaitpr-Sag  (Eonuerta 


Translated  from  the  French 

OF 

REV.  ALEXIS  CROSNIER, 

Professor  in  the  University  of  Angers. 


BY 

KATHERINE  A.  HENNESSY. 


PHILADELPHIA  : 

JOHN  JOS.   McVE^ 

1911 


\RY 

";  SEMINARY 
A5HINGTON 


ZZl  3  1 

Htbil  iDbetat: 

N.  P.  FISHER, 

!  ;brorum. 

hi.       '  ri§,  1911. 

Jmprimatur: 

+  B  l    PRENDJ  i 

<-f)tscoj)U*  J'  <*nsu. 

DU27»0  II. 


J-Jibil  Obotat: 


Jmpnmatur 


II.   PA8QUIER,  Pi ■■•-.■ 


+  J<  m-tii. 
J-hbtl  Obotat  : 

p   i   \n  i  ii  m  i .  i  bg 

3  mp  ii  i  n. it  ii  i  : 

1911. 
[(  111  Lfi 


i 


PEEFACE. 

The  story  of  a  conversion  has  a  twofold 
interest,  the  one  human,  the  other  super- 
natural. On  the  human  side  there  is  some- 
thing of  romance,  the  great  adventure  of 
a  soul  traversing  the  perilous  but  finally 
happy  way  from  darkness  to  light ;  on  the 
supernatural,  it  brings  us  into  the  region 
of  mystery,  for  the  ultimate  why  we  are 
unable  to  probe,  lying  as  it  does  at  the 
inscrutable  fountain-heads  of  the  divine 
grace.  But  it  is  not  for  the  purpose  of 
either  the  merely  human,  or  even  the 
supernatural  interest,  though  both  are 
essentially  bound  up  in  the  recital,  that 
the  Abbe  Crosnier  has  given  to  the  world 
the  story  of  the  conversion  of  five  of  the 
most  eminent  figures  in  literary  France 
in  recent  times.  His  object  is  rather  to  con- 
struct what  may  be  called  a  living  apolo- 
getic out  of  the  history  of  the  conversion 
of  Ferdinand  Brunetiere,  Paul  Bourget, 
Joris-Karl  Huysmans,  Frangois  Coppee 
and  Adolphe  Rette. 

3 


<lr<  . 


It  has  been  urged  repeatedly  by  the 
enemies  of  the  faith,  and  this  especially 
in  France,  where  the  attack  on  the  Church 

been  more  thoroughly  and  buc 
fully  organized  than  anywhere  else  in  the 
world,  that  men  of  intellectual  eminence 
are  neither  to  be  found  within  her  fold 
nor  Beeking  admission,  with  the  obvious 
conclusion  that  Bhe  is  reactionary,  behind 
the  times,  and  possesses  aothing  of  value 
either  to  hold  or  to  attract  the  intellectual 
and  the  learned 
AM  nier  points  to  and  reheai 

tory  of  the  conversion  of  these  five 
eminent  Frenchmen  as  a  refutation  of  the 
dander  and  a  vindication  of  the  Church's 
claim  t<>  be  the  mother  of  truth,  where 
nil  ho  be  they  great  or  little, 

;   "i-  learned,  may  find  full  satis 
'ii    both    for    mind    and    heart.      In 
•    Buch  an  apologetic   is   especially 
"<-ni  at  th.«  present  day.     In  tin-  Eng 
peal  in-  world,   its   bearing   is   per 
qoI    -  obviousl}  forceful,  a-  . 

o1  the  same  rancorous  and  <>r 
ganized  hostility  to  the  Church,  and  the 


Preface. 


public  mind  has  in  recent  years  awakened 
to  the  realization  that  perhaps  there  is 
something  good  out  of  Nazareth  after  all. 
Nevertheless  there  is  still  a  vast  area  need- 
ing enlightenment  and  edification  as  to  the 
relations  between  the  Church  and  the  in- 
tellectual life  amongst  those  who  speak 
our  mother  tongue;  and  the  Abbe  Cros- 
nier's  little  work  may  awaken  an  interest 
and  enkindle  a  flame  in  the  semi-darkness. 
For  the  Catholic  public  the  apologetic 
value  is  of  interest  as  another  testimony 
amongst  many  of  the  drawing  power  of 
Catholic  truth  in  open  minds  and  sincere 
hearts.  Here  are  iive  contemporary  men, 
illustrious  in  the  world  of  letters,  who 
came  to  the  faith  because  it  satisfied  the 
aspirations  of  mind  and  heart,  each  in  his 
own  way  to  a  common  result.  Brunetiere 
found  science,  confining  the  term  to  the 
sense  in  which  it  has  been  used  in  recent 
years  as  the  rationalistic  antithesis  of 
religion,  bankrupt;  it  could  not  meet  the 
needs  of  the  intellect  seeking  the  ultimate 
solution  of  life;  in  the  Church  alone  is 
the  fulness  of  truth  to  be  found.     Huys- 


ace. 


mans  was  led  along  the  highway  of  art ; 
craving  beauty,  the  complemenl  of  truth, 
he  found  his  way  hack  to  the  church  of  his 
youth.  Be  learned  t<>  realize  thai  in  her 
inspiration  and  under  her  fostering  care 
beauty  found  its  loftiest  and  Buhlimest  ex- 
pression in  her  great  cathedrals  and  her 
wonderful  liturgical  music  Along  this 
path  he  traversed  the  waj  from  what  may 
ailed  the  slums  of  degradation  t<>  the 
purlieus  of  the  mystical  city.  Adolphe 
Rett6's  conversion  was  a  revulsion  from 
sensualism  and  the  barrenness  of  indiffer 
entism,  which  had  made  a  waste  in  his 
soul,  to  the  richness  and  fulness  of  the 
nrwh  discovered  truth  of  the  faith,  though 
not  without  many  dark  misgivings  and 
dreadful  hesitations.  Francois  Coppee, 
through  the  chastening  power  <>f  pain  and 
health}  Bentiment,  which  is  always  a  guid 
ing  star  to  honest  bouIs,  returned  to  the 
church  of  his  childhood's  innocence.  Paul 
Bourget  discovered  that  modern  Bociologj 
founded  on  the  barren  rationalism  of 
■  (plains  human  institu 
tions  doi  thnii  from  t  he  ship* 


Preface. 


which  threatens  them  when  they  abandon 
the  guiding  star  of  the  supernatural. 
With  a  cool  and  searching  analysis  into 
the  modern  situation,  he  found  that  the 
family  and  the  state  require  for  their  pres- 
ervation the  safeguards  and  guidance  of 
the  principles  of  Christianity  as  enunciated 
and  guarded  by  the  Catholic  Church. 

In  these  eminent  instances  we  have  a 
living  apologetic  for  the  faith.  This  is 
the  special  emphasis  of  the  Abbe  Cros- 
nier's  little  work.  Science,  art,  sociology, 
sentiment,  and  the  insistent  need  of  hu- 
man nature,  when  astray  in  the  wilder- 
ness of  doubt,  find  their  only  solution  in 
the  living  faith  of  the  Church  of  Jesus 
Christ.  Here  is  a  vindication  and  a  tri- 
umph, a  vindication  against  the  slander 
that  she  has  no  claim  upon  the  modern 
intellect,  and  a  triumph  in  the  testimony 
of  the  illustrious  example  of  five  of 
France's  most  distinguished  sons  seeking 
and  finding  complete  peace  of  mind  and 
heart  in  her  universal  truth. 

CoNDE  B.   P ALLEN. 


AUTHOE'S  PEEFACE. 

"  Tell  us,  Mary,  what  tliou  hast  seen 
in  the  way?"  "  The  sepulchre  of  Christ, 
Who  lives,  and  the  glory  of  Him  Who  is 
risen. ' ' *  This  chant  which  the  Catholic 
Church  joyfully  intones  on  Easter  morn- 
ing, she  has  ofttimes  repeated,  not  by  way 
of  celebrating  the  resurrection  of  the  dead 
whose  tombs  border  the  Appian  Way  and 
fill  our  cemeteries,  but  in  exultant  recog- 
nition of  spiritual  resurrections  which  at- 
test the  unfailing  power  of  Christ  and  the 
vitality  of  His  work  here  below.  She  re- 
peats it,  in  this  our  day,  when  her  torch 
is  said  to  be  on  the  verge  of  extinction, 
just  as  she  did  when  her  dominion  ap- 
peared most  firmly  established  and  she  en- 
countered fewer  obstacles  in  her  onward 

'  Vic  nobi  quid  vidisti  in  via?  .  .  .  Sepulcrum 

Christi    viventis,    at    gloriam    vidi    resurgentis.      Taken 
from  the  prose,  Victimae  pascali  laudes. 

9 


1"  Author'*  P 

march  through  civilization  and  the  nations, 
.  .  .  It  is  her  song  of  eternal  springtime. 

I  have  endeavored  to  interpret  it 
apropos  of  Beveral  conversions  thai  have 
been  ;i  Bonrce  of  greal  joy  to  the  Church 
as  well  as  an  immense  advantage. 

The  following  pages  originally  contri 
bated  t<>  the  /•'-  *•  pratiqui  d'Apolo- 
getique)  are  now  published  separately  and 
with  Blight  revisions,  having  been  assigned 
a  place  in  the  "new  library"  thai  M. 
Gabriel  Beanchesne  is  building  up  under 
the  title  of  Apologetique  vivante.  This 
•  course,  highly  complimentary  to  me 
;m<l  t<>  my  little  treatise  which,  when  sen! 
ou1  into  t he  world,  will,  I  t rust,  be  pro 
ductii e  «»r  Borne  good. 

A.  C. 


LATTER-DAY  CONVERTS. 

Although  in  existence  for  nearly  nine- 
teen centuries,  the  Catholic  Church  is  still 
young,  and  all  these  years  of  well-nigh  in- 
cessant suffering  have  neither  furrowed 
her  brow  nor  exhausted  her  vitality. 

To-day,  as  of  old,  she  has  a  wonderful 
faculty  for  expanding.  In  the  course  of 
ages  the  ' '  torch  of  faith  ' '  has  passed  from 
one  nation  to  another,1  but  even  amongst 
those  peoples  that  have  remained  thor- 
oughly Christian,  it  does  not  always  shine 
with  the  same  steady  brilliancy  as  there 
are  constantly,  especially  in  times  of  per- 
secution, lamentable  defections  and  aston- 
ishing apostasies.  This  is  because  man  is 
a  weak  creature  and,  as  Montaigne  says, 
"  wavering  and  inconstant." 

Like  nature,  which  in  each  recurring 
Spring  strews  flowers  upon  the  graves  of 

1  Cf .  Fenelon  's  sermon  for  the  Epiphany. 

11 


r_!  Lai 

the  dead,  the  Catholic  Church,  palpitating 
with  the  life  of  God,  is  constantly  repair- 
er rains,  bnt,  more  ful  than  na- 
ture, Bhe  opens  graves  and  bids  the  dead 
come  forth.  Th<  rrc<  tio  called 
conversions.    The  erring  i  hildren  wl 

Adolphe  Rett6's  vigorous  expression, 
turn  "from  the  devil  to  God,"  '  are  more 
<»r  less  numerous  according  to  the  times, 
bul  by  a  providential  compensation  it 
-(•.•in-  thai  conversions  are  mosl  notable 
and  frequent  when  the  Church  is  being 
ecuted,    for    i<    not    tl  the    blood    of 

martyrs   i  he    a I   of  (  Mirist  i.-ms  "  :     \\Y 

never  know  .-ill  of  these  converts,  many  *^\ 
whom  remain  in  obscurity  either  thr< 
humility  or  a  certain  modi 

inabilil  r  own  Btorj 

fublic.    <ul  ad  thea 

mall  in  re 

\  r.-i I  to  li-  t  lie  ii,  God  in  bi 

hem  bach  from  afar,  and  ii  her 

:i    loi  ilcd   QCCOUnl    in   boob    form   Or, 

; 


Eminent  Scholars  Join  the  Fold.      13 

in  the  course  of  a  treatise  or  lecture,  make 
a  concise  statement  of  what  led  to  their 
conversion.  It  is  to  the  latest  and  best 
known  of  these  converts — selected  from 
the  world  of  letters — to  what  they  tell  us 
of  themselves  and,  on  the  other  hand,  to 
what  our  vexed  adversaries  say  of  them, 
that  I  would  now  call  the  attention  of 
my  readers. 


I. 


Of  recent  years  the  Church  has  beheld 
either  joining  or  rejoining  her  fold  such 
eminent  scholars  as  Ferdinand  Brunetiere, 
Paul  Bourget,  Joris-Karl  Huysmans, 
Frangois  Coppee  and  Adolphe  Kette.  .  .  . 
To  these  names  some  would  deeem  it 
necessary  to  add  those  of  Paul  Verlaine 
who,  between  his  strange  crises,  so  ad- 
mirably produced  Ma  Mere  Marie;  and 
Francis  Jammes,  the  candid,  symbolistic 
poet  with  the  abrupt,  disconnected  style 
who  at  first  strayed  into  the  dark  forest 
but  nevertheless  tarried  near  enough  to 


1  \  LatU  r-Day  Convi  rts. 

the  Ang&us  de  VAube  and  the  Ang&us 
du  8oir  ring  out  from  the  rustic  belfry 
and,  attracted  by  the  voice  of  the  bell 
entered  the  church  where,  in  the  Sacra- 
mental Presence,  be  found  peace  and  cer 
tainty.  Both  of  these  men  have  had  pious 
emotions  and  have  Bung  sweet  Bonge  bn1 
us  their  cases  are  Dot  bo  striking,  we  shall 
confine  ourselves  to  the  experience  of  the 
other  writers. 

These  conversions,  and  others,  arc  b 
source  of  intense  joy  to  the  Church,  a  joy 
similar  to  thai  which  the  (Jo-pel  tells  us 

felt     by    the    father    upon    the    home 

coming  of  his  losl  child.  When,  having 
returned  from  the  distant  land  <)\'  error 
and  passion,  the  prodigal  reentered  the 
paternal  abode,  his  father  lavished  apon 
him  all  f  caresses  and  loving  at 

tentions,  ever  to  the  extent   of  Beeming 

et  ful    Of   his   ot  her  ><>n    who   had   never 

left   him  and   who  wa  ed  at   these 

tender  demonstrations.     And  Jesus,  \Yh<> 
i»>  this  portrayal  wished  t<>  give  us  a  pic 
fcure  of  Our  Father  in  heaven,  caused  the 

|>rod  .il  her    t  hUS    t<>    meet     t  he    ohjec 


Attitude  of  the  Church.  15 

tion  raised  against  the  wanderer's  re- 
ception: "  Bnt  it  was  fit  that  we  should 
make  merry  and  be  glad,  for  this,  thy 
brother,  was  dead,  and  is  come  to  life 
again:  he  was  lost  and  is  found.' '  (St. 
Luke  XV,  32).  Moreover,  Jesus  again 
alludes  to  this  touching  episode  when,  after 
relating  the  parable  of  the  lost  sheep,  He 
concludes :  "  I  say  to  you,  that  even  so 
there  shall  be  joy  in  heaven  upon  one 
sinner  that  doth  penance,  more  than  upon 
ninety-nine  just  who  need  not  penance." 
(St.  Luke  XV,  7).  Naturally  the  Church 
upon  earth  echoes  the  Church  in  heaven 
and  as  she  was  commissioned  like  Christ 
and  by  Him  to  recover  the  lost  sheep  of 
the  House  of  Israel  and  of  all  mankind, 
the  return  of  the  wanderer  and  the  sinner 
touches  her  maternal  heart.  It  would 
seem  as  if  she,  too,  readily  forgets  the 
faithful  souls  whom  it  is  not  necessary  to 
seek;  but  these  understand  because  they 
love  and  they  are  in  no  wise  offended  by 
her  manifestation  of  this  tender  solicitude, 
for  they  have  learned  in  the  school  of 
Jesus  that  it  is  the  duty  of  one  and  all  to 


L6 

be  apostles  and  to  sacrifice  themselves  for 
their  sinful  brethr< 

With    this   celestial   joy    is    blended   a 
delightful  consolation  which  is  all  the  more 

helpful  in  thai   it  comes  at  a  mosl  critical 

moment.    The  tempesl   i  the 

Chnrch  to  da)  jusl  as  in  the  darkesl  dayB 
of  the  past,  and  her  enemies  who,  with 
anic  hatred,  are  persecuting  her  Tor  do 
ork,  have  determined  to  an- 
nihilate her.  For  this  reason  they  al 
tack  the  Latin  aations  amongsl  which  she 
has  been  so  long  and  so  firmly  established, 
moi  cially  Catholic  Prance,  her  eld 

ker  whom  Bhe  had  imbued  with 
•i  rine  and  morals  and  had  trained 
with  predilection  to  l>c  unto  the  world  the 
missionary     of     i  lical     civilization, 

,  .ci\  [need  thai 
if  Prance  falls  Bhe  will  bring  down  with 
her  the  entire  I  Ihrii  tian  edifice.  Hence 
the]    are    adroitlj    layii  to    the 

Chun*   in    Prance  and.  to  further  their 
r;n,  all    moans    whether   above 

d  or  otherwise,   notably    the  pi 
Dr  which  t  hey  have  almost  ab  ion 


Machinations  of  the  Enemy.         17 


trol  and  in  which  they  simply  deluge  her 
with  calumnies — and  an  outrageous  educa- 
tional system  whereby  pupils  of  all  ages 
are  too  often  utterly  dechristianized. 
Their  plan,  hatched  in  the  arriere-Loges 
and  executed  by  slow  degrees  —  just  as 
poison  is  administered  in  small  doses  so 
as  not  to  arouse  the  suspicion  of  the  sick 
man  whom  it  is  intended  to  kill — is  to  de- 
prive the  Church  of  her  intellectual  pres- 
tige and  of  all  social  influence,  having  first 
robbed  her  of  her  property  and  her  rights. 
They  purpose  reducing  her  to  utter  desti- 
tution and  silence,  when  lo !  she  whom  they 
had  supposed  dead  or  moribund,  revives, 
becomes  singularly  active  and  makes 
proselytes  even  in  her  enemy's  camp. 
Voices  beloved  and  admired  that  have  rung 
with  talent,  learning  and  eloquence,  are 
raised  in  favor  of  Christ  and  His  doctrine, 
and  the  enemy  is  stupefied.  The  Church 
Militant  listens  with  joy,  smiling  through 
her  tears  upon  those  children  who  come  to 
her  assistance  and  in  whom  she  feels  such 
pride. 

Yes,  pride  is  none  too  strong  a  word. 


Lfl  Lati 

as  the  decided  inclination  of  men  of  in- 
tellect toward  Catholicism)  precisely  al  the 
moment  when  troops  of  free-thinkers  are 
uniting,  in  the  name  of  Bcience,  to  make 
a  most  formidable  attack  upon  it,  is  a 
magnificent  tribute  to  the  vitality  of  the 

( latholic  <  linrch.      I  am  well  aware,  and  BO 

is  the  Church,  that  there  is  one  of  Christ  rs 

BayingS  with  which  they  conhl  uphraid  her 
in  an  endeavor  to  crush  her  legitimate 
|»ridc:  "   I    give  thanks  to  thee.  (>   Father, 

Lord  of  heaven  and  earth,  because  thou 
hasl  hid  these  things  from  the  wise  and 

prudent    and    ha-t    revealed    them    to    little 

ones.     Yea.  Father,  Tor  ^>  hath  it  seemed 

good  in  thy  BigM  Jn   (St.   Matt.   XI.  25,  26) 

and   a   >imilar  one  of   St.    Tanl  ■   u   For   BOS 

yonr  vocation,  brethren,  that  there  are  not 
many  wise  according  to  t  he  flesh,  not  many 
mighty,  not  many  aoble:  But  the  foolish 
things   of   the    world    hath   God   chosen, 

that    he    may    confound    the    wise:    and    the 

weal  t hingfl  of  the  world  hath  God  cl 

that     he    ma\     confound    the    strong.       ,    ." 

I  I   ( lor.    I.  .1  lew r\  er,   logi  lally 

speal  either    <  Ihrisl    nor    St.    Panl 


Saint  Paul,  the  Exemplar,  19 


thereby  intended  to  give  the  Church  a  li- 
cense for  ignorance  nor  to  exclude  from 
her  pale  scholars  and  men  of  intelligence. 
Jesus  teaches  simply  that  the  wise  and  the 
prudent  must  humble  themselves  if  they 
would  be  instructed  by  the  Heavenly 
Father  and  enter  His  kingdom,  and  St. 
Paul  repudiates  the  proud  wisdom  of  the 
flesh  and  preaches  the  folly  of  the  Cross. . . 

Moreover  was  not  St.  Paul  himself  the 
first  great  genius  to  do  homage  to  our 
faith  by  espousing  it,  thus  becoming  the 
predecessor  of  Origen,  Basil,  John  Chry- 
sostom,  Ambrose,  Jerome,  Augustine, 
Thomas  Aquinas,  Bonaventure,  Pascal, 
Bossuet  and  so  many  others  who  form 
such  a  brilliant  group  in  the  immense 
family  of  Christ? 

Like  St.  Paul,  and  without  abjuring  their 
reason,  all  these  great  men  became  humble 
and  lowly  that  they  might  learn  the  things 
of  Heaven,  and  in  their  train — to  restrict 
ourselves  to  literature,  which  Taine  has 
appropriately  called  a  "  living  psychol- 
ogy " — have  followed  those  whom  I  men- 
tioned a  few  moments   since  and  others 


like  them  who,  without  any  abandonment 
of  their  reason,  have  surrendered  their 
proud  spirit  {superbia  vitae)  to  the  au- 
thority of  the  < Ihurch.  <  >ne  of  the  num- 
ber, the  most  independent  and  the  ablest 
logician  of  them  all.  being  conquered  by 
truth,  cried  out  when  in  Lille:  "  What  do 
I     hclii  .  .  (,'<>     to     Rome    and     in 

quire;"  '  to  Borne,  to  the  Vatican,  where 

the  Pope,  the  Vicar  of  Christ  upon  earth, 
holds  his  court.      All  these  converts  rep 
the    same    thing    and    their    testimony    is 

strengthened  by  the  fact  that  they  hail 
from  all  parts  of  the  literary  horizon  and 

include    artists     of    the    subtle    type     like 

Quysmans;  ports  gifted  with  Bowing  num 
bers  like  Francois  Copper  and   Adolphe 
Etett6;    wel]  informed     philosophers    like 
tomesnil ;    sociologists  like  Paul 

'    bj    i".    Brunei  . m .   2nd 

'linpriiiu'rif 

PW1  ui.l 

that    hfl    I 

r   -111.1   In   which   he 


Hostility  and  Indifference.  21 

Bourget  and  critics  and  scholars  who  have 
read  and  probed  everything  and  who,  with 
fervid  eloquence  and  originality  of 
thought  have,  as  Brunetiere  said  of  him- 
self, run  the  "  full  length  of  the  literary 
keyboard. ' ' 

Surely  the  Church  has  a  right  to  boast 
of  such  conquests ! 

"  But,"  you  may  say  to  me,  "  because 
men  of  splendid  talent  have  come  back  to 
the  Church  you  cry  '  victory, '  whereas  you 
do  not  count  all  those  who,  just  as  re- 
spectable and  clever,  remain  at  the 
door  and  defy  your  faith.  Taken  as  a 
whole,  this  hostile  testimony  weakens  the 
other.  ..." 

Not  at  all.  I  willingly  admit  that  if  all 
men  of  great  intellectual  calibre  were 
hostile  or  indifferent  to  our  faith,  there 
would  be  quite  a  strong  argument  against 
it,  one  which  at  least  to  the  weaker 
brethren,  would  be  a  stumbling-block ;  but, 
thank  God,  such  is  not  the  case.     However. 

sumed  and  maintained  such  a  commendable  and  cour- 
ageous attitude  in  regard  to  Catholic  truth.  (Gabriel 
Beauchesne,  publisher.) 


22  Ldlh  r 

without  pretend]  explain  the  mystery 

of    predestination    or    to    penetrate    the 
inner  life  of  Bonis,  it  is  not  \  erj   difficult 
to    find    motives    for   the   indifference 
some  and  the  hostility  of  ol  hers.    The  in 
different  are  undoubtedly  the  more  nnmer 
ous  and  certainly  th  jion  to  share 

Pascal's  astonishment  concerning  the  men 
tality  of  those  who  are  little  inter 
in  t his  one  great  problem  of  life.     I l<>w 
ever,  religions  ignorance,  which  is  being 
propagated  at  snch  an  alarming  rate,  and 
the  incessant    pursuit   of  pleasure  or  of 
occupations  which,  in  ^\\v  feverish  life,  be 
come  more  and  more  absorbing,  all  these 
causes,  while  excusing  aothing,  account  in 
Borne  measure  for  bo  strange  a  Btate  of 
bouI.     But,  of  hostile  men,  beware  I     S  on 
will  i  '  hey  are  b^  aj  ed  either 

ions  \\  hich  can  not  endure  the 
,  of  the  i  bat  condemns  them,  or 

•  •  intellect  ual    pride  M    which    b< 
at  i  IT  Decked,    knee  bound    an  i 

and  alas  this  Bcourge  is  becoming 
mon  at  t  he  present  da)  w  hen,  an 
der  1 1;.-  ini!  r  <  lodl(       : 


The  Weighing  of  Testimonies.        23 

are  witnessing  a  veritable  pagan  renais- 
sance—  by  the  hateful  prejudices  im- 
planted in  souls  through  an  essentially 
naturalistic  education.  In  addition  to  all 
this,  the  conflict  between  fallen  nature  and 
the  "  super-nature, ' '  waged  from  the  be- 
ginning of  the  world  and  still  on,  at  least 
in  this  our  country,  is  being  not  only  sus- 
tained but  aggravated  by  the  political 
ambitions  and  alluring  promises  of  trium- 
phant sectarianism.  Briefly,  these  incen- 
tives are  all  human,  in  fact  too  human, 
and  seem  to  me  to  do  but  meagre  honor 
either  to  those  whom  they  actuate  or  to 
the  cause  which  these  defend. 

Moreover,  here  as  in  all  things  else,  the 
point  in  question  is  not  the  counting  but 
the  weighing  of  testimonies  with  a  view  to 
recognizing  their  value  and  convincing 
force.  As  for  me,  I  would  conclude  even 
at  first  glance,  that  the  calm,  unruffled  in- 
dustry of  a  Pasteur,  the  irreproachable 
candor  of  a  Coppee  and  the  eloquent, 
vigorous  reasoning  of  a  Brunetiere  could 
never  be  outbalanced  by  the  narrow  sec- 
tarianism of  a  Marcellin  Berthelot  (whose 


2 1  Latti  r  Day  ( 'onvi  rts. 


Learning  I  do  not  question),  the  Bkeptical 
and  misleading  dilettanteism  of  a  Etenan 
or  the  eleganj  facetiousness  of  an  Anatole 
France.1  Bui  we  musl  investigate  farther, 
Bince,  to  Learn  not  only  how  much  joy,  con 
Bolation  and  glory  bu1  also  what  help  and 
Btrength  the  Church  has  derived  from  the 
conversion  of  these  men  of  talent,  it  is 
sary  to  know  what  motives  unpolled 
them  to  enter  the  fold.  Lei  me,  there 
fore,  dwell   Bomewhal   at    Length  on  this 

point. 

II. 

These  illustrious  converts  have  en- 
deavored to  reveal  to  us  a  iVw  of  the 
motives  thai  brought  them  hack  to  religion 
an<l.  through  religion,  to  the  Catholic 
Church;  but,  note  well,  they  neither  at 
tempt  to  disclose  all  these  motives  nor  to 
give  in  full  detail  those  which  they  do  make 
known.    The\    tell   as  principally  of  the 

ion    of    their    conversion    and    dilate 

.  l.K':u»t     ImiI    \\h<»    ■MOM    I"1" 
iMi.slu'.l    I 

Wlll.ll      I 


"  Actual  Reasons  for  Believing."    25 

upon  the  reasons  that  first  influenced 
them:  reasons  of  an  artistic,  mystical, 
philosophical,  moral,  social  or  even  senti- 
mental order,  which  to  them  seemed  the 
most  decisive  and  are  therefore  apt  to  im- 
press the  greatest  number  of  minds  and 
hearts.  Other  reasons  of  a  more  intimate 
nature  are  altogether  too  delicate  to  men- 
tion and  too  complicated  to  unravel.  In  a 
celebrated  discourse  Ferdinand  Brune- 
tiere, after  having  set  forth  the  "  actual 
(eternal)  reasons  for  believing,"  added: 
"  I  have  others,  more  intimate  and  more 
personal ! ' '  *  Either  he  had  not  the  time 
or  he  lacked  the  desire  to  relate  them  in 
detail,  and  we  respect  his  silence  just  as, 
on  the  other  hand,  we  welcome  the  ex- 

1  Discours  dc  combat,  new  series:  Les  raisons  actu- 
<lhx  <lc  croire,  p.  45.  In  the  Ecvuc  gencrale  (Aug., 
1907),  I  read:  "P.  Brunetiere  .  .  .  entered  the  Church 
because  the  Church  was  the  logical  end  of  his  long, 
patient  nml  laborious  quest  and  because  she  alone  of- 
fered this  earnest  wayfarer  in  search  of  truth,  that 
which  he  had  vainly  sought  elsewhere:  a  government,  a 
tradition  and  a  sociology."  These  lines  by  F.  Van  den 
Bosch  arc  indeed  true  lmt  P,  Brunetiere  had  other  moTO 
■ittunate  reasons. 


'!,  r  Day  Converts, 


plicil    revelations  of  a   St.   A.ugnstin< 
Coppee  or  a  Etett6.     Bowever,  I  must  ad- 
mit that,  in  a  last  analysis,  no  one  of  them 
could   claim   to   anveil   either  the   secret 
workn  the  Holy  Ghost  or  the  oper- 

ation of  grace  in  his  soul,  as  these  must 
ever  remain  an  ineffable  mystery. 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  Bay  that  as 
faith  is  a  supernatural  virtue  and  coi 
qnently  a  gratuitous  gift  of  God,  Done  of 
these  men  could  have  merited  it,  and  to 
affirm  or  believe  that  they  could,  would  be 
Dot  only  insolent  and  presumptuous  but 
positively  heretical.  However,  insofar  $s 
they  were  able,  the]  rated  with  the 

action  of  when  (Jed  spoke,  they  an 

rered;  when  His  truth  manifested  itself 
to  their  minds  1 1  Ives  up 

to  it  "  "  or,  better  b!  ill,  openly  embraced  it. 
to  the  utter  disregard  of  the  lies  that 
might  have  dimmed  their  vision  of  it.  A.s 
; he  illusi  i  \  man  Baid,  they  have 

••    inned  the  light.91      Moreover, 

because  <  latholici  aot  alone  a  belief 


( 'renting  a  New  Temperament.      27 

but  a  rule  of  life,  having  become  believers, 
they  lived  up  to  their  faith.  Not  that 
they  encountered  no  obstacle  in  giving  the 
full  adherence  of  their  intellect  and  in 
making  this  supreme  effort  of  their  will, 
for  we  know  that  the  light  of  faith  shines 
through  obscurity,  that  the  human  will  is 
ever  weak  and  that  the  process  of  chang- 
ing one's  heart  and  creating  for  one's  self, 
as  it  were,  a  new  temperament,  is  a  long 
and  difficult  one,1  but  they  fought  bravely 
on,  they  prayed  and,  with  the  aid  of  grace, 
triumphed.  There  is  a  potent  charm  in 
following  in  their  writings  the  account  of 

i  "  The  very  constitution  of  the  human  heart  en- 
ables us  to  understand  the  slowness  of  every  religious 
conversion.  .  .  .  The  freely-taken  step  by  which  an  in- 
telligent man  determines  his  destiny,  demands  long 
ration  of  mind  and  heart.  What  the  ear  has 
heard,  the  heart  must  sanction:  what  the  mind  has 
grasped,  the  whole  soul  must  approve.  Besides,  how 
many  prejudices  must  be  dissipated  and  impressions 
effaced!  Then  too,  as  religion  lays  hold  of  the  inner- 
most fibres  of  the  soul,  a  new  temperament  must  be  sub- 
stituted for  tho  old  and,  as  it  were,  a  second  nature 
&."     (Le  /.'■  i  n  Angleterre  au 

by  J.  Guibert,  p.   121. 
Poussielgue,  publish'  r.) 


Latter-Day  Com-,  >•/>. 
those  interior  struggles   the  outcome  of 

which  allayed  their  intellectual  anxiety 
and  put  an  end  to  the  vacillations  of  their 
will.  Besides,  Bince  in  this  our  day,  one 
can  not  I).-  a  -nod  Christian  without  heinp: 
an    apostle,    these   converts    became   the 

apostlefl    of   the    faith   which   they    had    BO 

Laboriously  regained.     Both  in  prose  and 
verse  Francois  Coppfa  extolled  the  bless 
Lugs  of  t  he  religion  of  Jesus  ( Ihrist,  and  in 
h    of    his    late    no\cl>.    L'Etape,    Un 
Divora  and  even  L'EmigrS,  Paul  Bour 
became,  a-  it  were,  the  expounder  et*  the 
social  fecundity  of  <  'at  holicism.    And  what 
the  Foules  >/>  L<<ui>h>  if  qo1  a  hymn  of 
love  and  gratitude  t<>  the  new  Eve,  t<»  the 
Virgin  i  u  Lumidre  de  bonW  qui  ue  con 
nait    pas    lee    soirs,    Havre    dec    pleure 
mi  narie  des  eompatissances,  Mere 

<\<>^  pit  i6s  -."  who.  under  the  title  of  the 
[mmaculate  Conception,  revealed  herself 
in  the  grotto  of  kfassabielle,  to  b  lowly 
Bhepherdee        s      U    Lydtvim    di    5 
datnt  .i  veritable  heart  product,  is  indeed  a 

t  range  I h  but,  withal.  \  erj  captivating 

and,  if  w.-  reflect  upon  Huvsmans's  hero 


True  Apostles.  29 

ism  in  his  last  illness  and  at  the  time  of 
his  death,  strongly  suggestive  of  the  au- 
thor's own  sufferings.  Moreover,  it  is  no 
exaggeration  to  assert  that  Brunetiere 
fell,  sword  in  hand,  fighting  for  the  faith 
like  a  valiant  soldier  and  endeavoring  to 
smooth  for  others  the  "  roads  to  belief.' ' 
Those  who  have  seen  him  seated  at  the 
lecturer's  table,  who  have  beheld  the  quick 
fire  of  his  glance  and  listened  to  his  martial 
voice  sounding  the  charge,  have  felt  that 
each  one  of  his  Discours  de  combat  was 
diminishing  his  strength  and  sapping  the 
life's  blood  from  his  veins.  And  what  of 
Adolphe  Eette,  the  last  to  join  the  fold? 
Is  he  not  even  now  *  in  Belgium  with  the 
exiled  Benedictines,  putting  the  finishing 
touches  to  the  conversion  the  beginnings 
of  which  lie  has  described  in  a  soul- 
stirring  book,  and  fitting  himself  by  prayer 
and  meditation  for  the  apostolic  life  he 
desires  to  lead  in  the  world? 2     By  indulg- 

i  1908. 

-  Whilst  this  book  was  being  translated,  Adolphe 
Rette  applied  for  admission  and  was  received  into  the 
Benedictine  Order.      (Translator's  note.) 


30  /<  r  Day  <  Converts* 


ing  in  these  reflections  I  may  seem  t«>  be 
deviating  from  my  Bubject;  but  no,  one 
thing  contributes  to  the  understanding  of 
another,  and  acta  Buch  as  these  shed  a 
powerful  light  on  the  motives  thai  have 
produced  them. 

It  is  not  only  fair  bul  most  gratifying 
to  call  attention  to  the  fact  thai  no  human 
interest  influenced  these  men  in  their  de 
oision.  At  the  time  that  they  resolutely 
joined  the  Catholic  ranks,  the  Church  had 
no  materia]  advantage  to  offer  them;  and 

6   State   that    had    fallen    into   the    power 

of  the  Masonic  Lodges  and  was  therefore 

most  upon   t  he  ( 'hnrch    from   which 

it   was  about   t<»  separate  ^v  indeed  had 

already  separated,  the  .  was 

highly  indignant  with  Catholicism's  new 
recruits  whose  change  ^\'  allegiance  pi 

an  opportune  Mow    to  the  ( 'hurch'S   p 

cutors.  In  fact,  a-  often  happens  in  battle, 
the  i  were  treated  unjust!}    by 

their  enemies  and.  at  time  lected  by 

their  new  allies,     for  instan  well 

known  that  Ferdinand  Brunetifcre  had 
yearned    for  the  chair   of   Literature   in 


A  Defeated  Ambition.  31 

the  College  of  France,  as  the  culminating 
glory  of  his  brilliant  professorship  and 
that,  because  of  his  conversion,  "  to  the 
great  scandal  of  university  and  literary 
men,  this  legitimate  ambition  was  defeated 
by  the  vehemence  of  political  (and  I  shall 
add  religious)  passions  and  the  pusillanim- 
ity of  those  in  public  power ; ' ' x  and  also 
that,  during  the  preceding  year  he  was 
the  only  one  deprived  of  his  chair  in  the 
Normal  School  and  left  without  compen- 
sation, the  other  lecturers  being  trans- 
ferred to  the  Sorbonne.  We  know,  too, 
that  for  having  indiscreetly  advised  the 
Episcopate  of  France  to  give  the  odious 
Separation  Law  of  1905  a  fair  trial,  he 
was  openly  insulted  by  being  called  a 
"  submissionist."  Assuredly  the  author 
and  his  cosignataries  made  a  mistake  and 
Pius  X  was  right  in  not  acceding  to  their 
desire,  but  was  it  not  wrong  for  Catholics 
to  sneer  at  the  champion's  good  intention? 
However,  do  you  not  think  that  the  testi- 

i  Eug&ne-Melchoir  de    Vogiifi  in   the   Ucvuc  dcs  Deux- 
.  Jan.  1,  1007. 


32  LatU  r  I  nvi  rts. 

mony  rendered  by  these  men  to  the  Catho- 
lic Church  was  brought  into  bolder  relief 
by  the  attacks  of  their  enemies  and  the 

ingratitude  of  their   friends  ]  ' 

III. 

This  granted,  lei  ua  Bee  what  the  testi 
mony  is.  It  will  no!  be  difficult  to  Bhow 
that  the  motives  prompting  this  testimony 
vary  to  a  great  extent,  in  fad  in  the  Bame 
proportion  that  temperaments  do.  5Tou 
arc  familiar  with  the  proverb,  u  All  roads 
lead  to  Iconic,"  which,  if  I  mistake  not, 
mean-   to   the   holiness   that    consecrates 

'  "    [|    it    Dot    :i    \<tv    r.-iii:irk:iM.'    \':w\    .    .    .    I 

totally    independent    and   diaint 

eonld  only  expect  th(  U  forth  derision  and 

.   should    piil.li.  LigioW 

.iiiiisimi  \  i  limine, 

Hrini.-tirrr     rin.l     bin 

ng  the  many  rnini  piled  up  by  ti 

J.   philosophical,   p  .i:il    bankruptcy 

of  tlii i  h  eonl innes 

•    lik.'  th< 

firm  upon  iiu-ir  foum  tny  bund 
itt.-Ht  th«>  Immutnhl 

nincc, 


Frangois  Coppee.  33 

Rome  in  the  eyes  of  the  world ;  and  a  little 
reflection  upon  the  different  roads  trav- 
ersed by  our  converts  *  will  convince  you 
that,  from  all  parts  no  matter  how  remote, 
one  can  and  must  come  back  to  the  Church. 
It  is  obvious  that  "  the  same  side  of 
truth  does  not  appeal  to  all  minds  and 
that  religion  does  not  touch  all  hearts  in 
the  same  spot.  And,  although  individ- 
ual, .  .  .  there  is  not  one  of  these  '  human 
cases  '  that  could  not  have  served  as  a 
starting-point  for  a  whole  course  in  apolo- 
getics.' ' 2 

Frangois  Coppee 's  case  3  is  the  simplest 

1(1  j. here  are  many  roads  that  lead  to  belief."  (Dis- 
cours  de  combat,  new  series,  F.  Brunetiere,  p.  45.) 
"Classical  arguments  can  have  no  influence  except  by 
becoming  personal  certainties  for  each  one."  (M.  Le- 
breton  in  the  Revue  pratique  d'Apologetique,  Dec.  1, 
1907,  p.  344.) 

2  Brunetiere,  ibid.,  pp.  8,  9,  10,  note. 

9  During  the  republishing  of  these  pages  F.  Coppee 
died  in  sentiments  of  the  truest  piety.  His  remains 
were  accompanied  to  the  cemetery  by  thousands  of  the 
workingmen  of  Paris,  lowly  men  of  whom  he  had  sung 
with  so  much  delicacy  and  pathos.  It  was  a  touching 
triumph  which,  to  me,  seemed  far  superior  to  the  offi- 
cial pomp  commanded  by  Victor  Hugo. 


V 


Latter-Day  I 

of  all.     In  the  preface  to  La  Bo 

:  be  has  given  as  an  account  of  the 
moral  revolution  by  which  he  was,  as  it 
re,  flung  back  into  the  arms  of  God. 
Brought  up  a  <  Ihristian,  he  was  fervent 
until  about  bis  fifteen!  b  year;  then  came 
the  crisis  of  adole  and  with  it,  trans 

one.    Through  False  shame  and  fear 
of   the    necessary    acknowledgments,    the 
young  man  ceased  to  practice  his  religion 
and,  like  many  others,  in  an  endeavor  to 
rose  himself,  explored  both  reason  and 
ence    In   quest    of   metaphysical   argu 
ments.     Pride,   rtiich  had  brought   about 
Hi«'  beginning  of  his  downfall,  kept   him 
■  i  of  the  Btraight,  narrow 
'  b  and  furnished  him  pretexts  for  au 
thorizing  the  revolt  of  his  senses.     I  [ow 
ir,  ten  \  ited  him  with 

the  il  of  physical  Buffering,    111 

'I  him  to  pause  and  reflect,  for  hap 
pil.\    he  had  neitl  •  ounced  his  beli 

l  human  liberty  nor  lost  hh  re 
i  nth.  being  -till  sincerelj  inter 


Coppee's  Return  to  God.  35 

ested  in  noble  causes.  A  first  surgical 
operation,  performed  at  Pau,  seemed  to  be 
successful  and  Coppee's  serious  thought 
fled  with  vanishing  danger,  but  danger  re- 
appeared and  necessitated  a  still  more 
painful  and  hazardous  operation.  Then 
the  poet  entered  into  himself,  sent  for  a 
priest  and  went  to  confession  but,  because 
of  a  Jansenistic  scruple,  would  not  receive 
the  Holy  Eucharist.  However,  on  the  ad- 
vice of  his  confessor,  he  began  to  pray  and 
to  read  the  Gospels  wherein  he  saw  ' '  truth 
shine  like  a  star  "  and  "  palpitate  like  a 
heart."1  Once  again  his  soul  became 
meek  and  humble  like  that  of  a  little  child, 
and  he  recovered  the  faith  of  his  early 
days  which  was  legible  as  ' '  the  characters 
of  an  ancient  manuscript  on  the  parch- 
ment of  a  palimpsest."2  Several  months 
later  he  received  Holy  Communion  and 
ever  after,  triumphant  and  happy,  extolled 
the  Catholic  Church  in  which  alone, 
through  the  humble  avowal  of  one's  faults, 

i  Preface  to  La  Bonne  Souff  ranee,  p.  13. 
2  Id.,  ibid.,  [).  -  15. 


36  LatU  r-Day  Convi 


one  Bndfi  perfect  peace  and,  in  the  Euchar- 
ist the  adorable  food  of  the  bouL    To  his 

friend   the   >innei\   Coppee  charitably    ree- 

ommended  the  remedy  that  had  cured 
him:  "  Do  as  1  did.  Reopen  your  Gospels 
and  return  to  the  I  Iross.  I  fivested  of  all 
pride,  present  yourself  at  the  tribunal 
founded   by   Jesus   Christ    where   is   en 

throned  a  nierey  BUrpaSSUlg  our  most  BUD- 
linie  dream-  of  justice."  ' 

Taken  all  in  all,  Coppee 'a  experience 
may  l»e  resolved  into  Chateaubriand's  cele- 
brated Baying,  il  I  wept  and  1  believed." 
Nevertheless,  can  it  he  an  illusion  1  in 
Coppee's  recital  I  detect  the  ring  of  a 
greater  Binceritj  and  a  more  genuine  hu- 
mility than   l   find  iu  that   of  the  noted   rO 

mantic  writer. 

It   wbb  not   precisely  through  physical 

pain  hut  through  the  deepest   moral  die 

that    Bett6,  another  poet,  returned 

to  ( h>d     I le  emerged  from  his  desolation 

through  the  intervention  of  Coppee  who 

I    l'|.   t:i.  .■    td     ; 


Adolphe  Rette.  37 


had  become  an  apostle  of  truth  regained 
and  who  said,  as  of  old  Jesus  had  said  to 
the  leper,  "Go,  show  thyself  to  the  priest. " 
Rette  went  and  peace  "  descended  into  his 
soul."  The  account  of  his  conversion,  a 
recital  which  lie  himself  claims  to  be  "  sin- 
cere and  scrupulously  accurate, ' ' *  is 
clothed  in  pleasing  language  which,  al- 
though not  classic,  is  very  well  adapted — I 
was  about  to  say  almost  too  well  in  places, 
but  art  alone  does  not  destroy  sincerity — 
and,  on  the  whole,  very  touching. 

Adolphe  Rette,  born  and  baptized  in  the 
Catholic  religion  but  "  reared  without 
faith,"  was  placed  in  a  Protestant  college 
and  followed  the  practices  of  the  Confes- 
sion of  Augsburg,  afterwards  retaining  but 
a  vague  theism  and  an  unconquerable  dis- 
like for  the  dryness  of  the  reformed  re- 
ligion. At  eighteen  he  enlisted  as  a  sol- 
dier, did  .  .  .  everything  of  which  a  sol- 
dier is  capable  and,  subsequently  reenter- 
ing civil  life,  wrote  books  in  which  he 
combined    "  eroticism   with    blasphemy." 

1  Du  (liable  a  Bleu,  p.  3.     (Leon  Vanier,  Paris.) 


LatU  r-Day  Convi  rts. 

Socialism,  Anarchism,  Collectivism,  Etadi 
calism,  orgiastic  paganism  and  a  Borl  of 
mi>t>  Buddhism,  each  enlisted  his  passing 
attention  until  at    length  he  not   only  be 
came  disgusted  with  the  political  men  who 

it  his  collator! b,  bui   grew  to  i 

( Ihrisl  more  and  more  with  the  mysterious 
hatred  that  breal hes  of  hell.  < tae  day 
win  11  lecturing  at  Fontainebleau,  he  pom 
pously  announced  thai  Bcience  would  osher 
in  the  golden  age  and  some  workmen  gath 
ered  around  an  inn  table  asked  him  to 
define    his    scientific  and    explain 

how,  without   God,  the  world  could  have 
taken  Bhape.     Rette*  stammered  a  bit,  gave 

adorn  quota!  iona   from    I  lamarok,    1 1 
win,    Haeckel,    Biichner,    Moleschotl    and 

en  Diderot  and.  being  plied  with  Mill 
more  pointed  questions,  finally  admitted 
t  lmt  he  could  not  answer.    So  firm  was  the 

nfidence  of  his  inquisitors  in  the  great 
infallible   Science  thai    the   \>^"v   felloe 
di  tm  bed  but   little,  if  anj .  b  it  the 

fuigh   of  doubi   entered   the  leel 

ained  there  for  t  irs. 

I !«•  lost   fail h  in  science  and  in  pi 


An  Agonizing  Question.  39 


and  still,  through  debauchery,  the  devil 
kept  a  tight  hold  on  him,  the  only  decent 
sentiments  left  within  him  being  the  love 
of  nature  and  of  art.  During  a  stroll  in 
the  woods  the  sublime  beauty  of  one  of 
Dante's  passages  on  the  purifying  of  souls 
in  purgatory,  seemed  to  thrill  him  1  and  he 
was  confronted  by  the  agonizing  question, 
"  Does  God  exist?"  Although  he  ban- 
ished the  idea,  being  impelled  by  some 
interior  force  which  he  now  knows  to  have 
been  diabolical,  he  was  nevertheless  con- 
strained to  admit  that  amid  the  perpetual 
change  in  creeds  and  in  human  affairs, 
the  Catholic  Church  remains  immutable; 
that  she  derives  this  unique  stability  from 
a  more  than  human  source  and  that  she 
alone  is  the  custodian  of  consoling  truth. 

He  began  to  pray  occasionally,  but  whilst 
praying  and  seeking  help  from  the  prayers 
of  others,  lie  again  plunged  into  the  abyss 
of  pride  and  sensuality  and,  as  with  Au- 

1  "  Appeared  to  me— may  I  again  behold  it!  — 
A   ligiid   along  the  sea  so  swiftly  coming, 
Its  motion  by  no  flight  of  wing  is  equalled;   ..." 
Dante's  Purgatory,  Canto  II. 


\0  LatU  r  Day  Gonvi  rts. 


Lstine  in  the  loi  .  a  furious  conflict 

between  light  and  darkness  went  on  with 
in  his  bouI  ;  trie  passions,  fearful  of  die 
sal,  clinging  to  him  with  desperate  ten 
acity.     s<»  was  his  discouragement 

during  this  harrowing  struggle  that,  whilst 
in  Paris,  he  wi  ed  with  the  thought 

suicide  and  was  on  the  trerge  of  committing 
the  rash  ad  when  he  went  t<>  Bee  Frangois 
dved  him  with  brotherly 
charity,  and  inspired  him  with  a  little 
moral  energy.  Palling  ill  and  being  sen 
ously    threatened    with    a     hemorrhaj 

lirtti-    went     hack    to    the    country    whore, 

pite  a  Blight  inclination  to  Catholicism, 
he  wrote  a  tic  article  on  Huysmans'fl 

conversion,    apropos    oi    /.-  s    I  r<  <(<  s    eft 
and  containing  blasphemous  Ian 
ainst    the    Blessed    Virgin.      v 
pilgrimage  to  i  he  I  Hot  re  Dame 

de  '  l  on  the  rock  of  <  !orne 

biche  in  the  forest  that  Burrounds  Axbonne 
— a  journey  of  which  he  maki  aceful, 

alt  I  ,i\  of  thinking,  an  over 

w  i  o  mbol  of  1 1  i  of  i  he  bouI, 

via  the  Calvary  of  expiation,  to  Mary  the 


Rette' s  Struggles.  41 

great  comforter — gave  him  confidence  in 
the  Virgin.  Nevertheless,  pride  still 
reigned  supreme  in  his  heart  and  there- 
fore vanquished  him. 

I  could  not  fittingly  analyze  the  conflicts 
by  which  this  poor  heart  was  agitated  and 
in  describing  which  Rette  actually  brings 
his  good  angel  and  the  devil  upon  the 
scene  and  has  them  speak  simultaneously 
with  himself;  these  touching  colloquies 
must  be  read  to  be  appreciated.  Once 
again  when  the  unhappy  man  thought  him- 
self abandoned  by  God,  despair  seized  him 
and  he  was  about  to  hang  himself  but  was 
deterred  by  an  "  interior  voice  "  that 
whispered  to  him  of  divine  mercy.  Then, 
a  glance  at  the  crucifix  and  another  pil- 
grimage to  Notre-Dame  de  Grace  re- 
stored peace  to  his  soul.  Coppee,  whom 
he  had  begged  to  help  him,  sent  him  to  a 
Sulpician,  just  as  one  would  recommend 
a  sick  person  to  a  physician,  and  Rette  had 
the  courage  to  go.  He  met  the  Abbe 
Motet,  was  instructed  by  him  in  the  essen- 
tial truths  of  religion  and  in  Christian 
practices,  made  a  general  confession  and 


Latter-Day  I  rf>. 

received  Holy  Communion.  Of  this  firs! 
communion  he  loved  to  write,  delighting 
to  expatiate  upon  "  the  glorious  peace  thai 
reigned"  within  him.  "Ah!"  exclaimed 
he,  "  why  can  we  not  arresl  time  at  thk 
solemn  hour  of  tranquility  and  innocen 
Why  must  the  world  conic  back  to  besi< 

n-  with  its  base  appetites  and  vile  tumults? 
.  .  .  ()  Blessed  Eucharist,  how  greatly  to 
be  pitied  are  the  ignorant  and  the  err 
ing  who  despise  Thy  efficacy]     Aj  for  me, 
I  know  thai  Thou  arl  the  source  of  all  good 
and    the    fountain    of    hope   and    energy 
whence,  in  daj  -  of  sadness  and  discoura 
ment,  the  bou]  imbibes  comforl  and  j 
( ii.-mt.  <  >  my  God,  thai  1  may  uever  foi 
!  hi ■■."       I  ii    olitude  lie  wrote  the  book  in 
which  he  i  bis  b1  n  his  suff< 

nd  his  victor]   and  returns  thai 
to  God:  the  wort  is  not  one  ^\'  vainglory 
i.nt  of  reparation. 

I  'mm  Bel  I  rj  3  on  have  Been  how, 

in  our   rationalistic  age  which   boasts   of 


Jorls-Karl  Huy  smarts.  43 

pinning  its  faith  to  naught  save  science 
and  positive  proofs,  the  invisible  world 
and  even  mysticism  assert  their  rights. 
Huysmans  neither  thinks  nor  speaks  dif- 
ferently from  Bette.  He  says :  ' '  We  are 
in  darkness,  we  feel  vagnely  in  and  abont 
us  struggles  that  are  forever  ending  and 
recommencing.  The  game  is  played  by 
three :  God,  the  devil  and  man. "  x  .  .  .  And 
he  declares  that  through  mysticism  he 
was  brought  back  to  the  fold  of  the  Good 
Shepherd.  "  My  faith  rests  neither  upon 
my  reason  (but  here  he  either  makes  a 
mistake  or  expresses  himself  inappropri- 
ately) nor  upon  the  more  or  less  positive 
perception  of  my  senses:  it  springs  from 
an  interior  sentiment,  from  an  assurance 
acquired  through  internal  proofs.  With 
all  due  respect  to  those  caziques  of  psy- 
chiatry and  those  would-be  pedagogues 
who,  because  incompetent  to  explain  any- 
thing, classify  as  auto-suggestion  or  de- 
mentia the  phenomena  of  the  divine  life 
of  which  they  are  totally  ignorant,  mysti- 

1  j.< s  Funics  (h   Lourde8,  p.  28. 


!  1  /.<///'  i- Da 


oism  is  a  decidedly  accurate  science.  I 
have  been  able  to  verify  a  certain  Dumber 
of  its  effects  and  this  suffices:  I  ask  do 
more  of  it  in  order  to  believe." 

Prom    S  Lydwim  .  L<  s  Fouli  s 

Lourdes,  La  Cathedrale  and  other  works, 
we -lean  that  Buysmans  was  familiar  with 
the  greal  mystical  authors,  and  bis  Last 
years  and  admirable  death  have  b! 
that  he  knew  how  to  practice  their  advice 
in  an    heroic  degr<  However,   it 

I  mm   the  mosl   dismal   depths   of  degrade 
lion   that    he   soared   into   the   Light.      I    ad 

mil  t hat  I  am  incapable  and  not  verj 
drone  of  making  known  to  yon  all  the  die 
orders,  vagaries  and  artificiality  that  at 
Brsi  beset  the  life  of  this  artist  who  was 
ttoi  alone  b  prej  to  pride  and  lust  bnl  also 
the  dupe  of  spiritualism,  satanism  and 
ism.     Later    he    humorously     remarked: 

•  (Jod  can   not   he  hard  to  please  when   lie 
i  /,/..  ihi.i.     c  either 


Coppee' s  Opinion  of  Huysmans.     45 

is  satisfied  with  the  like  of  me!"1  God 
is  never  hard  to  please  when  souls  mani- 
fest a  humble  and  sincere  repentance  and 
this  was  the  case  with  Huysmans.  His  ex- 
perience— which,  thank  God,  is  not  a  very 
common  one — brought  him  into  almost  ac- 
tual touch  with  the  supernatural.  Coppee 
very  wittily  observed  that  Huysmans  took 
the  longest  way  of  getting  to  Rome  and, 
in  summing  up  the  miraculous  transfor- 
mation, added:  "  Some  years  ago  an  un- 
wholesome attraction  led  him  to  study  the 
mysterious  abominations  of  Satanism,  and 
on  reading  successively  Ld-bas  and  En 
Route  one  might  think — if  unaware  that 
the  first  of  these  stories  is  wholly  imagin- 
ary (/  hope  it  is;  I  ivoidd  like  to  feel  as 
sure  of  this  as  M.  Coppee) — that  upon 
emerging  from  some  black  mass  Durtal, 
that  is  Huysmans,  fled  to  the  Trappists  for 

1  ]\  Coppee,  who  quotes  this  saying,  writes  very  hum- 
bly: "  And  I  would  add,  '  with  the  like  of  me. '    I  have 
heard  this  remark  laughed  at  but  I  to  the  contrary,  find 
ii    very  touching.     However,  one  should  not  speak  thus 
-avors  too  much  of  discouragement. "     (La  Bonne 
ance,  p.  231.) 


LatU  r-Day  Convi  rts. 

refuge.     The  truth  i>  thai  this  disdainful 
creature  who  was  in  all  things  bo  hard  to 
t\,  and   was  quite  as   squeamish   in 
regard  to  cooking  as  to  Btyle,  one  day  be- 
came disgusted  with  himself.     This 
tug  of  self-loathing  which  he  has  often  ex- 
witli   the   utmost    sincerity,   was 
later  on  to  assume  in  a  scrupulous  con 
science,  the  form  of  repentance.     Whoso 
ever  repents  experiences  the  need  of  U>v 
giveness  and  the  one  tribunal  in  which  in 
dulgence  is  infinite  and  absolution  perfect 
is  the  confessional.     Hence  Durtal  rushed 
into  Penance      /      EouU    devotes  Bingu 
larly  touching  pages  to  this  bou!  Btirring 
crisis    and  was  subsequently  a  Christian." 
And  i  he  ( Ihrist  ian  was  a  ie\  oted  one.    1 1*1 
enjoyed  the  delights  of  Gregorian  plain 
chant   and  the  ''harm  <>f  the  <>l<l  Gothic 
cathedrals  as  thoroughly  as  the  absorbing 
power  of  mysticism;  however,  owing  to  the 
remnant  of  an  old  habit,  h<'  round!;  abused 
those  of  his  uew  co  religionists  whose  ai 
tistic    en  e  was  nol  his  o*  a. 

I  ii>  .•  \  f n  became  an  ( Ablate  of  St,  Benedicl 
but,  better  bI  ill,  bappj  in  i  he  interior  and 


Paul  Bourget.  47 

supernatural  life  to  be  found  in  the  Cath- 
olic Church  alone,  he  suffered  like  a  hero 
and  died  like  a  saint,  blessed  and  protected 
by  the  Virgin  of  Lourdes. 

Paul  Bourget  is  not  a  mystic  but  a  phil- 
osopher and  a  sociologist *  whose  observa- 
tions and  reflections  have  gradually 
brought  him  to  Catholicism.  Prior  to  the 
appearance  of  Le  Disciple,  which  seems 
like  the  fisrt  milestone  reached  in  its  au- 
thor's onward  march,  there  was  already 
distinguishable  among  the  Anglo-Parisian 
snobs  and  the  decidedly  cosmopolitan  ele- 
ment that  patronized  the  gilded  salons 
which  the  novelist  enjoyed  frequenting,  a 
philosopher  who  was  reaping  his  harvest 
of  social  and  consequently  Christian 
truths.  In  analyzing  the  passions  he  dis- 
covered the  remedies  which  must  be  ap- 
plied to  them  and,  in  his  autobiography, 
he  wrote:  "  Having  started  from  a  sim- 
ply positivist  point  of  view,  I  was  driven 
from  pyschology  to   ethics  by  the  same 

i  Of.   /'""/  Bourget  sn<iologue,  by  Tancr&de  de  Visan. 
•uvelle  librairie  oationale,  85   Btm  de  Renm 


Latter-Day  Conv<  rts. 

necessity  which,  despite  all  hie  skepti- 
cism, impels  the  physician  who  is  sure  of 
his  diagnosis  to  question  himself  concern- 
b  remedy."  And  now,  let  us  en 
deavor  to  make  known  briefly  the  steps 
by  which  the  pupil  of  Stendhal  and  Balzac 
made  his  ascension,3  how  he  finally  relin- 
quished skepticism  and  pessimism  or  the 
somewhal  brutal  realism  of  his  first  models 
and,  surpassing  Taine,  his  other  master, 

turned    toward    a    broader,    clearer,    more 
inspiring  horizon;  how  he  wrote  L'Etape, 

i  Although    not    afraid    of  mt   M. 

-   ili.-it    be    until. I    prefer,   another.      In 
Ifi  /•  in'  be  ...  such  is  not   n 

ticiil.'ir  ease.    One  is  converted  from  :i  i  •  <1  not 

from  i   pir  mt  attitude. 

ad    consequently 
ng,  is  l.ut  one  of  the  forms  of  m<  doubt. 

re  \\t\s  been 
development  in  my  thought  th< 
M.l   th:it    the   second   I 
■  ir,   the  opilogue   to    Mi  usages 

in     I'll 

in  the  < 

tipletcly   i 
called  I,  then,  let 

.  i  lopment 


Paul  B  our  get.  49 

and  JJn  Divorce,  the  latter  an  especially 
beautiful  book  that  seeks  to  defend  weak 
souls  against  the  permanent  temptation 
held  out  to  them  by  a  nefarious  law;  how 
he  became  a  good  Christian  and,  in  his  own 
way,  a  soldier  of  the  Church  of  Jesus 
Christ. 

He  himself  tells  us  whence  he  started. 
"  Science  (if  you  notice,  it  is  always 
science!)  renders  impossible  all  belief  in 
the  revelation  of  the  supernatural  and,  at 
the  same  time,  declares  itself  powerless 
to  solve  the  problems  which,  of  old,  were 
solved  by  Eevelation. ' ' x 

Such  was  the  antinomy  formulated  in  the 
■ming  by  this  incredulous  but  sincere 
and  serious  philosopher,  friend  though 
he  was,  of  the  dilettanti.  In  an  earnest  en- 
deavor  to  settle  the  point,  he  discovered 
that  true  science  is  by  no  means  the  enemy 
of  the  supernatural.  His  method  was  the 
experimental  study  of  the  human  soul  and 
of  society. 

1  Essais    de    pyscliologie    contemporaine,    1st    edition, 
1883,  p.  82. 


50  LatU  r-Day  ( 'onvi  rts. 

On  the  human  soul  taken  individually. 
Lb  there  a  better  pyschology  and  a  more 
thorough  and  better  regulated  system  of 
morality  than  that  of  Catholicism  which 
imposes  upon  the  faithful  frequent  exam 
inatioii     of    conscience-      in     fact     ad 

thai  such  be  made  daily  thus  showing 
"  the  infinite  importance  of  t he  moral 
life  "  and  effectively  sustaining  the  will 
in  it-  struggle  against  the  passional 
Reason,  when  left  unaided,  is  frequently 
overcome  by  the  Benses  and  ofttimes  even 
the  heart  arguments  of  filial  and  maternal 
love  can  Dot  withstand  the  great  pressure 
brought  to  bear  upon  t  hem.  But  religion 
and  the  Catholic  religion  only,  inflames 
the  heart  of  the  believer  with  an  effica 
cious,  a  supi  matured  love  and  offers  him 
in  the  Sacraments,  those  sources  of  divine 
.  ;i   sl  rength  that   Bhields  him  from 

evil  and  lifts  him  Up  after  a  fall.      "II 

it   may   be  asked,  u  has  <  latholicism   ac 
quired  this  profound  and  accurate  Know  I 


Misguided  Christians.  51 


edge  of  the  soul!"  Jesus  Christ  Himself 
has  imparted  it,  Jesus  Christ  Who  made 
the  soul  aud  founded  Catholicism  for  the 
soul's  support  and  elevation.  "  Still 
there  are  philosophers  who,  although  not 
Catholics,  nevertheless  lead  irreproachable 
lives  as,  for  instance,  Monneron  in 
L'Etape."  This  is  true;  Monneron  and 
his  kind,  although  few  and  far  between, 
are  good  men,  "  misguided  Christians  " 
who  proceed  in  consequence  of  an  acquired 
speed  and,  with  ideas  of  justice  and  soli- 
darity, have  set  up  a  religion  for  them- 
selves. However,  the  great  mass  of  oth- 
ers, the  weak,  the  impressionable,  those 
who  no  longer  have  faith,  can  do  naught 
else  but  fall  and  they  fall  repeatedly. 
God  is  necessary  to  them.1  Observe  lone 
philosophy  when  confronted  by  passion. 
It  is  serious,  it  adopts  a  scientific  jargon 
and  ultimately  furnishes  pretexts  to  him 
who  is  ready  to  yield  as,  for  instance,  in 
the  case  of  Robert  Greslou  in  he  Disciple. 
lies  ides,  unbelievers  are  usually  proud  or 

i  "  They  needed,  yes,  they  needed  God."     (L'Etape.) 


v> 


Latter-Day  ( 'onvi  rts. 


usual    men  '    who,    at    critical    junctU] 
Alien   face  to   I'aee  with  death   or  "  in   aw 

i'"l  moment8,,,  reexperience  the  religious 

impulse  and   with    it   the   need  .,.,-. 

In  presence  of  the  .lead  body  of  his  die 
ciple,  the  victim  "\'  his  lessons  in  philo 
phy,  does  nol  old  Adrien  sixtr.  knowing 
and  admitting  that   he  is  an  accompli 
Peel  the  first  words  <»t'  the  divine  | 
"Our  Father.  Who  art  in  heaven,"  rise  to 
his  lips.'     Prayer,  the  instinctive  cr;    o 
the  Buffering  heart  and  man's  appeal  t<> 
God,  has  a  "  supernatural  strength 
On   /!>>  ,i  or,   if  you   will. 

"///.      Following  Paul  Bourget's  lead, 
l(,i  i:    consider  only  a  few  of  the  most  die 
tressing  social  problems. 

•■•  for  example,  iivon  i  which,  in  the 
name  of  modern  principles,  has  ;-  en  in 

led     in     our     latter-day     legislation. 

lal 
hate,"  "  murderous   blows,"  and   •■ 
rible  Btrife."     Do  these  begei   pro{ 


Consequences  of  Divorce.  53 


Ah  no,  they  cause  a  decline,  a  retrogres- 
sion; they  foster  the  reign  of  caprice,  of 
individual  fancy.  Whilst  admitting  that 
superior  civilization  tends  toward  monog- 
amy you  have  nevertheless  superseded 
monogamy  by  "  successive  polygamy,' ' 
pure  and  simple,  and,  by  tearing  its  sacred 
ties  asunder,  have  destroyed  the  family 
which,  because  of  its  nature,  has  need  of 
stability.  How  much  more  reasonable  is 
the  Catholic  religion  even  when  considered 
"  from  the  single  viewpoint  of  mere  ob- 
servation!" Father  Euvrard  says  to 
Darras:  "  I  thus  wished  to  bring  home  to 
you  the  identicalness  between  the  law  of 
the  Church  and  the  law  of  reality;  between 
the  teaching  of  experience  and  that  of 
Revelation.  In  its  effort  to  endure,  the 
social  nature  ends  by  adopting  the  very 
rule  of  which  Religion  has  made  a 
dogma. ' '  * 

The  inequality  of  social  conditions ;  .  .  . 
suffering.  As  Brunetiere  says,  this  is  the 
real   social  question  and  upon  it  philos- 

i  Z7w    Divorce. 


54  LatU  r  Day  Convi  rts. 


ophers   outside   the   Church,    most    espe 
cially    socialists,    preach    the   two    magic 
themes:  "  universal  happiness  M  and  "  al> 
Bolnte  justice."     Unfortunate!}   this  i\(>i- 
trine  "  is    framed   al    variance  with   the 
genuine  law  -  of  social  order,  .  .  .  two  of 
them,  verified  from  the  beginning  of  time, 
being  Inequality  and  Buffering."     These 
laws    were    completely    ignored    by    the 
French  Revolution  which,  at  the  Bame  time 
whetted  two  <>f  men's  aspirations  "  like 
wise  verified  throughout  ti  .  namely: 

justice  and  happiness."  Merc  again,  how 
much  more  clear-sighted  is  Christianity! 
When  endeavoring  to  encourage  the  poor 
man,  t  he  ( 'hristian  does  do!  lie  to  him  by 
Baying:  u  > on  are  or  w ill  be  my  equal/' 
l>ut  declares  \  "  I  am  3  our  fellow  creature." 
Thus,  h\  charity,  the  practice  of  which 
I  'In  1st  ian  's  dutj  p  he  assists  his  poor 
frlluv  wit hout,  Iimw <'\ er,  humiliating 

him.'      Admirable    economy    of    R< 

which    alone   can    t  hus    prop    Dp    1 1 

edifice!     And  whence  comes  this  po 

K.\  ident  i\  from  God, 

I  L' I- tape. 


B  our  get's  Sincerity.  55 

Arrived  at  this  stage  of  his  experimental 
proofs,  it  was  hardly  necessary  for  our 
philosopher  to  dissipate  a  few  other 
douhts  on  the  relations  of  science  and 
faith,  in  order  to  realize  that  these  have 
two  different  domains  and  that  science  can 
in  no  wise  satisfy  the  religious  needs  of 
the  soul ;  nor  was  it  imperative  for  him  to 
clear  up  the  solvable  difficulties  of  exegesis. 
He  understood  thoroughly  and  had  but 
one  more  step  to  take,  namely,  to  believe; 
so,  with  God's  assistance,  he  took  it  and 
adopted  Catholicism,  the  only  religion 
whose  precepts  conform  to  the  teachings 
of  experience.  His  Catholicism  is  there- 
fore "  born  of  a  realistic  vision  of  the 
moral  nature."  Being  absolutely  sincere, 
Paul  Bourget  has  made  his  deeds  comply 
with  his  beliefs. 

I  may  be  wrong  in  my  estimate  of  this 
matter  and  yet  I  wonder  if  you  will  not 
agree  with  me  that,  as  we  proceed  with 
this  study,  the  horizon  seems  to  broaden 
and  the  apologetic  effort,  so  conspicuous 
in  the  lives  and  writings  of  each  of  the  new 


56  Luth  r-Day  ( <onv( 


recruits,  to  assume  a  greater  importance! 
Of  course    Brunetiere's    endeavor    is    by 
far  the  mosl  original  and  animated.     In 
fortunately    be    could    qo1    complete    the 

.1  pologie  that    lie  had  dreamed  of  building 

and  the  plan  of  which  be  Bketched  for  a 
friend  one  day  when  u  marvelous  in  didac 
tic  verve,  persuasive  vigor  and  construe 
tive  -kill."  '  as  Indeed  be  often  was.     [1 
was  a  beautiful  structure,  joyfully  begun 
bul  interrupted  by  death;  howeve 
portions  of  its  walls  still  stand  as  a  ter 
rible  menace  to  some  contemporary  ei 
M.  J.  ( 'artier  endeavored  to  draw  up  this 
plan  anew  in  Ike  R  ratique  d'Apolo- 

gStiqm     and  eded  in  making  an  in 

genious  and  im,  instruction ;  bul 

because  do!  iritical  study,  he 

cted  to  indicate  th<  and 

weak  points  in  the  work  as  also,  although 
M.   Bruneti&re  did  not   care  to  i 

,  (  Blond  i 

•»        IM- 


Ferdinand  Brunetiere.  57 

edge  it,  a  certain  inclination  toward 
fideism.1  However,  what  interests  us  just 
at  present  is  not  so  much  the  Apologie 
itself  as  the  path  that  led  the  writer  up 
to  it. 

This  was  indeed  a  long  one  but  very 
remarkable  and  paved  with  most  instruc- 
tive information.  Thinkers  and  friends 
who  have  been  intimately  associated  with 
Brunetiere  will  give  us  a  detailed  account 
of  what,  like  Newman  and  Manning,  the  au- 
thor was  pleased  to  style  his  religious  evo- 
lution rather  than  his  conversion.2  Still, 
call  it  what  you  will,  conversion  or  re- 
ligious evolution,  the  word  matters  little, 

lCf.  Discours  de  combat,  new  series,  pp.  20-23.     Cf. 

".(lion.    His  horror  of  "  philosophy  "  made 

him   declare   that   God  is  not   demonstrable,  that   He  is 

an  abject  of  belief,  not  of  ''science."     Nor  shall  we 

k  or  his  explanation  of  symbolism. 

M.  Trogan,  who  had  expressed  the  same  idea, 
Brunetiere  wrote:  lt  I  thank  you,  especially  in  the  name 
of  fair-minded  readers,  for  haying  insisted  on  other- 
wise designating  what  some  are  pleased  to  call  my  con- 
version, and  which  certainly  is  one  although  ii  i  also 
lething  else.  ..."  M.  Trogan  had  alluded  to  it  as 
an  iclosion,  meaning  thereby  a  sort  of  a  development— 
manifestation.     (Corresp<  25,  1906.) 


58  LatU  r-Day  Converts. 

what  concerns  us  most  is  to  learn  how  the 
change  took  place. 

M.  Victor  Giraud  was  certainly  righl  ' 
in  applying  to  the  eminent  writer  and 
thinker  what  he,  in  turn,  had  Baid  of  the 
nineteenth  century:  "  It  may  be  supposed 
to  have  been  agitated  by  other  cares  and, 
in  fact,  it  was;  hut  if  the  religions  question 
was  not  always  the  firsl  and  most  mani 
Pest  of  its  preoccupations,  it  was  certainly 
the  most  unremitting  and  although  at 
times  the  leas!  obtrusive,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  mosl  torturing."  In  fact,  from 
his  college  days  or,  not  to  go  hack  bo  far, 
from  the  time  whom  as  private  tutor  in  a 
u  boite  a  bachot,"1  he  began  to  acquire 
universal  knowledge  by  giving  all  kind-  of 
in   literature,  history,  philosophy 

i  Wort  .-ill .  .i.iy  quoted.     (Blood  el  die)  pp. 

nhl.      in     tin-     follow  :\u<\     I 

-   ho   boa   written   on 

lIllH    Si' 

Institution  vrhicfc  M.   ; 

humbli  young  ambil  I 

fact    Hint    |  Months 

with    P.    Mi  i.n.  : 


The  Religious  Problem.  59 

and  the  sciences,  particularly  mathematics, 
his  restless,  I  was  about  to  say  Alcestian, 
pessimistic  soul,  was  tormented  by  the 
same  problem  that  disturbed  Pascal's,  the 
religious  problem  that  "  has  not  ceased  to 
be  that  which  every  thinking  being 
broaches,  discusses  and  solves,  at  least 
once  in  his  lifetime. ' '  *  In  the  varied  and 
eminently  instructive  articles  that  he  be- 
gan to  write  as  early  as  1873, 2  whether 
he  discussed  literature,  language,  art,  his- 
tory or  philosophy,  his  serious  mind  was 

1  Be  quelques  traraux  receats  sur  Pascal,  p.  30  of 
Etudes  critiques,  3rd  series,  by  F.  Brunetiere.  The 
article  was  written  in  September,  1885.  In  1900  he  re- 
peated with  still  greater  precision:  "  Do  we  or  do  we 
not  believe  that  God  became  incarnate  in  the  Person  of 
Him  Who  called  Himself  the  Son  of  God?  ...  It  is 
here  that  at  least  once  in  our  lifetime  we  should  all  with- 
out exception,  answer  ..."  (Discours  de  combat,  new 
series,  p.  42.)  And,  in  1905,  in  the  Preface  to  the  Abbe 
Picard's  work  on  the  Transcendance  de  Jesus-Clirist, 
he  said:  tl  The  religious  question  is  the  foundation  or, 
so  to  speak,  at  the  bottom  of  all  others  and  there  is  but 
one  religious  question  which  is  precisely  that  of  the 
1  transcendence  of  Christianity.'  "     (pp.  xiv-xv.) 

2  First,  in  the  I  Htt&raire  and  then  in 

des  Deux-Mondes. 


60  LatU  r-Day  ( 'onvt  rts. 


ever  haunted  by  the  religious  idea  which 
permeated  nearly  nil  his  works,  cropping 
out  in  .-ill  shapes  and  in  the  mosl  unez- 
d  places.    Occasionally  he  would  hurl 
an  angry   remark   a1   the  Church  and  at 
Christian  dogma  in  the  name  of  the  very 
Bcience   and   criticism    to   which    he 
later  on  to  mete  ou1  their  jusl  deserts; 
bul  aowhere  is  there  any  banter  after  the 
fashion  of  that   found  in   Kenan  or  Ana 
tole  France:  an   Aicestis  could  not   be  a 
dilettante!     His  indefatigable  and  i 
able  curiosity  prefer]  i  ratify  : 

along  the  line  of  religious  bool 
<  Satholic  or  Protestant,  and  he  read  not 
only   Bossuet,    Bourdaloue,   Pascal,   P<    I 
Royal,    F6nelon,    Bfassillon,    Calvin    and 
Vinel   i'ii   the  ;><-t   works  by  the 
of  our  own  day,   Perrone  and   Franzelin 
.  .   ;  he  even  studied  t he  Sutnm  •  of  St. 
Thomas  Aquinas  and  I  venture  thai 

noi    man]    laymen,    nor    inde<  d    pi 
among  as  have  done  as  much.     He  was 

■  matrix    .|.-\  oted   '  lot}  . 

ciallj  to  k  orks  on  t  he  origin  of  ( Jhria 
tianil  \  ;    \'ov    ii  bi     II 


Brunetiere  and  Positivism.  61 

Eenan  and  Burnouf.  .  .  .  He  acknowl- 
edged to  M.  Giraud  that  the  Introduction 
a  riiistoire  du  bouddhisme  by  Eugene 
Burnouf  had  retarded  his  espousal  of 
Catholicism  fifteen  years.1  In  philosophy 
he  was  for  a  long  time  under  the  influ- 
ence of  August e  Comte,  Darwin,  Herbert 
Spencer  and  even  Schopenhauer  and,  un- 
til the  very  last,  highly  approved  of 
Comte  and  Darwin.  True  indeed  are 
those  words  of  the  popular  song:  "One 
always  goes  back  to  one's  first  love,"  for 
you  know  that,  once  converted,  Brunetiere 
desired  to  utilize  in  religion  the  Positivism 
of  Comte — notwithstanding  the  disfavor 
of  fellows  in  philosophy — and,  in  litera- 
ture, the  Darwinian  theory  on  evolution. 
But  prior  to  his  conversion  he  searched 
the  same  current  of  ideas  to  see  if  Posi- 
tivism could  not  found  a  system  of  moral- 
ity that  would  take  the  place  of  vanished 
religions;  besides,  you  are  aware  that  the 
philosopher,  although  having  become  a 
Catholic,  nevertheless  retained  as  a  good 

1  Ferdinand  Brmeti&res  p.  \ 


fii'  Latter  Day  Converts. 

Positivisl  and  a  Loyal  disciple  of  that  con 
Bcientions  savant  Claude  Bernard,  a  love 
of  facty  and  Bhowed  by  facts  that  if  the 
social  question  is  a  moral  one  it  is  impos 
Bible  to  separate  morality  from   religion 
and  that  the  moral  question  i>  therefore 
a   religious  question.     Meanwhile,   before 
his  visit  to  the  Vatican,  that   i<  to  Bay, 
during  the  twenty  years  of  literary  pro 
duction   between    L873  and    1s'.>4,  lie  was 
oundings,  was  enlightening  him- 
Belf  through  extensive  reading,  through 
the  comparative  study  o\'  religions,  espe 
cially  the  Christian  religions,  Greek,  Pro 
testant  and  Catholic,  and  even  quesl 

heaven    and    earth.       However,    when 

to  establish  morality    and  social 
morality,   be  had   Been  that  and 

philosophy    could   doI    guarantee  it.  that 
Buch  an  achievement  belonged  to  Catholic 
ism  only.1     I l<-;i\ en  hearkened  to  t his  Bin 
cere  thinker  and  ardent  lover  of  truth  and 
responded  b>  diflfu  daily  increi 


Visit  to  the  Vatican.  63 

light  which  shone  its  brightest  on  the  oc- 
casion of  his  trip  to  Italy  in  1894.  "What- 
ever else  may  have  been  said  of  it,  it  was 
simply  a  pleasure  trip  taken  to  gratify 
curiosity  "; —  Brunetiere  thns  expressed 
himself  in  an  unpublished  memorandum 
containing  an  account  of  his  interview 
with  Leo  XIII,  a  note  that  certainly  ought 
to  be  published  some  day.1  At  any  rate, 
the  trip  culminated  in  a  visit  to  the 
Vatican.  The  impression  made  by  the 
"  grand  old  man's  "  speech  and  bearing 
was  deep  indeed;  in  fact  it  was  what  first 
spurred  Brunetiere  to  overcome  the  moral 
vacillation  undoubtedly  engendered,  as  al- 
ways happens  in  such  cases,  by  the  thous- 
and and  one  minor  events  occurring  in 
the  interior  and  subconscious  life.  We 
know  the  rest.2 

First  of  all  came  the  article  that  fol- 
lowed the  visit.  It  was  a  well  aimed  blow 
at  the  self-infatuated  science  that  failed  to 

i  It  vtrs  published  by  M.  Victor  Giraurt  in  the  Eevue 
des  Deiix-Mondes,  April  1,  1908. 

-Ferdinand  Brunetiere,  p.  27. 


64  Latter-Dap  Converts, 

keep  exorbitant  promises.    "  The  time  is 

not    Long    gone    by    when    scholarly    in- 
credulity was  commonly  considered  a  mark 
or  proof  of  superiority   of  intellect   and 
Strength    of    mind.  .  .   ."'      His   style  re 
vealed    a    splendidly    controlled    eloquence 

luii  at  intervals  was  seriously  and  bitingly 
ironical.     At   a  celebrated  banquet    Mar 

cellin    Berthelol    protested    in   the  name  o!' 

science;  and.  without  any  banquet,  certain 

theologians   protested    for  other   reasons 
than  M.  Berthelol 

Then,  hot h  during  and  after  these  i 
controversies    came     Ferdinand     Brune 
i  Lire's  conquest  of  ( latholicism  in  it  - 
tirety,  which  is  ,-it  once  a  belief  and  a  rule 

of   life. 

I le  assumed  t he  i  ainsl  I 

who  bad  "  a  hatred  of  truth."    <  hi 

l .  L895,  he  e.mt  ributed  to  the  R<  vu<   <l<  s 
Wond(  ■-,     an     article     cm  it  led     La 

r  urcd   in   the 

. 
iv»i.      I    •!"    ii. «f  IB   up 


Two  Great  Lectures.  65 

Moralite  de  la  doctrine  evolutive,  wherein 
he  proved  that  ethics  can  not  be  deduced 
from  nature,  such  as  it  is ;  at  Besangon, 
February  2,  1896,  he  delivered  a  great  lec- 
ture on  La  Renaissance  de  I'idealisme 
which,  for  him,  was  like  reaching  the  first 
milestone  on  the  road;  and  in  the  same 
year  he  wrote  a  preface  to  Mr.  Balfour's 
book:  The  Foundations  of  Belief.  In 
this  preface  he  acknowledged  that  mere 
science  is  incapable  of  demonstrating  the 
conception  of  the  Absolute  and  the  Un- 
knowable and  that  science  can  only  be  sur- 
passed by  belief  or  faith. 

During  the  Congress  of  Besangon  he 
gave  a  magnificent  lecture,  November  19, 
1898,  in  the  Kursaal,  on  the  Besoin  de 
Croire  (Necessity  of  believing)  a  necessity 
which  is  innate  in  all  men.  He  did  not 
deem  that  he  had  the  right  to  proceed 
further,  it  being  with  him  lie  said  a  ques- 
tion of  personal  candor  and  dignity,  and 
he  concluded  thus:  "  No  one  of  us  is  mas- 
ter of  the  interior  work  being  accomplished 
in  souls.  .  .  .  And  if  this  be  a  truly  great 
step,  why  should  I  not  some  day  take  an- 


66  Latter-Day  Convi  rts. 


other  and  more  decisive  one.'"  At  a 
banquet  that  evening,  when  responding  to 
a  toast,  he  Baid:  "  I  shall  give  way  t«» 
truth."  ' 

On  November  L8,   L900,  at  the  twenty 
eventh  Congress  of  the  Catholics  of  the 
department    of    Nord,    held    in    Lille,    its 
capital,    he   developed    the   actual  — and 
eternal,  philosophical,  historical     r<  i 

I  belli  rnni.  Thus  was  a  still  more  de 
cisive  step  taken.  "  Perhaps,"  he  said. 
11  I  may  be  asked  now  as  I  have  often  been 
asked  before:  '  Wdiat  d<>  yon  believe,  yon 
who  -  peak  thus  ?'  .  .  .  What  (\o  1  fa  lu 
.  .  .  Not  what  do  1  suppose,  imagine,  know 
or  understand  hut  what  do  1  fa  lu  <•  t  .  .  . 
Go  to  Borne  and  inquire!"  Thenceforth 
Braneti&re  was  a  Soman  Catholic  beoa 

who  heard  him   n  thii  to  be 

I    uhwh,    ..t"    tbl  '  :  :ik.» 

it      \\.»rth     While     to     li.i\.      liTOd.    .    .   .    When     finally     M. 

i:  'Gentlemen,  my  only  inn-it  Lay  in  I 
ing  roth',  he  diecloeed  to  oe  the  eerei 

the 

H..iii.     'II  ng  rerelal 

I 


Brunetiere's  Apology.  67 

he  had  concluded  that  Catholicism  only 
could  satisfy  his  need  of  faith  and  furnish 
him  with  motives  of  credibility. 

At  length  came  humble  Christian  prac- 
tice— which,  however,  was  not  quite  com- 
plete ] — and  its  principal  or  public  fruit 
was  to  be  his  work  on  Catholic  apolo- 
getics, "  a  synthetic  structure  of  three 
stories,"  only  a  part  of  which  he  was  able 
to  finish,  namely,  the  Utilisation  du  positi- 
visme.2  For  our  contemporaries,  Brune- 
tiere's apology  would  have  been  perhaps 
not  as  agreeable  as  Pascal's  but  possibly 
more  convincing  in  favor  of  Catholic 
truth,  if  it  be  a  fact  that  Pascal,  having 
strangely  deviated  from  his  first  idea  in 
consequence  of  events  with  which  he  be- 
came identified,  would  have  used  his  pro- 

1  1 1  is  death  occurred  at  10  a.  m.  on  Dec.  9,  1906. 
1 '  He  had  heroically  awaited  the  sinister  visitor  who, 
to  use  the  Biblical  expression,  nevertheless  'came  like  a 
thief  and  surprised  him  at  the  very  moment  when,  in 
full  consciousness,  he  was  preparing  to  discharge  those 
duties  which  open  up  the  horizon  of  Christian  hope. ' ' 
(Ferdinand  Brunetieref  by  Georges  Fonsegrive,  p.  43.) 

-  The  two  others  were  Les  difficult es  de  croire  and  La 
TranscendUvnce  du  Christianisme. 


Latter  Dun  ( 


jected  apology  preeminently  to  prove  the 
truth  of  Jansenism  and  to  defend  Port 
Royal  againsl  its  enemies. 

In  Bruneti&re's  case  the  conquest  ol 
truth  was  indeed  a  brilliani  one  although 
not  achieved  without  a  mighty  effort. 

here    1    would   again   quote  the   lines:   "  li* 

final  adherence  was  aol  given  without  a 
Btruggle  nor  without  difficulty  —  particn 
larly  in  regard  t<>  the  A.bbe  Loisy's  books 
—  -  it  was  nevertheless  given  honestly  and 

i  Tin 

i 

e  made  to  - '  Bs 

■  us   which   i 
ntlemen,  made  up  -I  the  torture  of  my 

■u   remember  the   • 
the  prodi 

th»-    human    mind  ;  '  im.1    r*» 

iid.    in   Um   Lotus  &4 

I  tbougl 
pels.     Taking   the   word  <>f  t: 

II    bl       .    I  ni^'   in   th( 

ad,  on  tli« 


Brunetiere's  Complete  Surrender.    69 

completely  and  perhaps  he  (Brunetiere) 
had  all  the  more  merit  in  giving  and  main- 
taining it  because,  as  he  sometimes  ac- 
knowledged, if,  in  Catholicism,  he  fonnd 
great  mental  satisfaction  and  the  '  ap- 
peasement of  his  (intellectual)  anxiety  ', 
deep  heart  contentment  was  always  denied 
him  and  it  was  for  this  that  he  would 
have  cared  most."  I  have  introduced 
these  lines  not  only  to  bring  the  cham- 
pion's merit  into  a  stronger  light  but  al- 
so the  better  to  emphasize  the  gracious, 
superior  and  convincing  homage  which 
Catholicism  received  through  the  surren- 
der of  such  a  vigorous,  masterful  intellect. 
In  giving  these  testimonies,  especially 

St.  John.  However,  meanwhile  I  have  reflected— as,  in 
what  other  way  would  a  man  who  is  interested  only  in 
ideas  use  his  existence?— and  I  have  seen  that  whilst 
eluding  the  real  question,  exegesis  nevertheless  re- 
mained in  itself  a  commendable  science  although  it  did 
not  and  could  not  probe  the  heart  of  things."  (Dis- 
cours  de  combat,  new  series,  pp.  38-39.)  Beneath  the 
author  's  irony  and  slightly  paradoxical  mode  of  expres- 
sion, we  detect  the  true  spirit  of  the  writer  and  the 
Christian.  Nevertheless,  one  of  these  days  it  will  be 
very  interesting  to  know  what  troubles  the  wicked  little 
book  bred  within  him. 


'0  t(  r  Day  <  '<>ur>  rts. 


that  of  Bi unetidre,  1  might  have  entered 

more  into  detail  but  I  feel  that  1  have  Baid 
enough  for  the  purpose  in  view.     We  liave 

seen  that  of  these  five  writers  who  have 
come  back  to  the  faith  and  who  were  all 
men  o!'  spirit  and  intelligence,  there  was 
imt  <>ne,  no  matter  what  his  physical 
moral  distress,  who  did  not  fir>t  feel  with- 
in   himself  the   need   of  a    religion   and   did 

not  seek   to  satisfy   this  need   elsewhere 
than  in  the  Catholic  Church.     Whilst  ad 

mitting  this  to  he  true,  yon  may  bring  np 
the  case  of  Taine  who  also  was  on   the 

road    to    truth    hnt    died    without     having 

quite  reached  the  goal  and  who.  although 
born  a  Catholic,  wished  to  he  interred  ac 
cording  to  the  Protestant  rite,  and  you  may 
maintain  that  the  final  decision  o\'  this  np 
right  man  defeats  my  careful  arguments 
tion.     Mot  at  all.     Bj    making  BUCh  a  re 
quest  Taine  did  not  intend  to  proclaim  his 
allegiance  t.»  the  Protestant   Church;  lie 
desired    religious    burial    that  ans 

might  cot  ho  gratified  and  Christians  Bean 
daii  hich   they    surely    would    have 

been,    had    he    received   atheistical    inter 


The  Truth  about  Taine.  71 

merit.  On  the  other  hand,  not  having  en- 
tirely renewed  his  allegiance  to  the  Cath- 
olic faith,  he  did  not  wish  to  simulate 
sentiments  and  a  belief  which,  as  yet,  he 
did  not  share.  If  he  tarried  by  the  way- 
side or  rather  had  not  time  to  enter  the 
promised  land  towards  which  he  seemed  to 
be  journeying,  the  reason  is  known  to  God 
alone.  The  others  whom  I  have  men- 
tioned, having  corresponded  with  the 
grace  offered  to  all,  were  certainly  hap- 
pier and  probably — I  shall  not  say  cer- 
tainly because  we  are  here  in  the  depths 
of  mystery — more  courageous,  more  obe- 
dient, more  strongly  imbued  with  the 
spirit  of  prayer  and  with  humility.  .  .  -1 

i  Why  should  I  not  here  again  quote  Brunetiere?  He 
said  of  Auguste  Comte  who  was  somewhat  wanting  in 
the  humility  necessary  for  the  taking  of  the  last  step: 
lt  The  lack  of  humility  is,  you  know,  what  alas,  may 
be  called  the  great  heresy  of  modern  times;  and  if,  ac- 
curately speaking,  every  heresy  is  but  the  development 
of  the  original  vice  of  human  nature  (cf.  Grodefroid 
Kiirth  in  Les  Origines  de  la  civilisation)  the  distinguish- 
ing vice  of  this,  our  age,  is  pride;  in  fact  it  has  been 
characteristic  of  the  last  four  or  five  centuries.  All  that 
we  have  retained  of  Genesis  is  the  saying  of  the  ser- 
pent:   Et  eritis  sicut  Dii."      (Discours  de   combat,   1st 


72  Lai !  i  Cont;(  rts, 

IV. 
Francois  Coppee,  Adolphe  Rett6,  Joris- 
Knrl  Euysmans,  Paul  Bonrget  and 

pp.  338-339,  Le  besot n  de  croire.<  not  be 

-.lid  that  even  before  Brunetiere  became  an  out-and-out 
»  hrist  i.ia        1  B98)    these    I 
•tigmatised 

his    faith    being   irhol . 

I   hi'   tattnat u  nee:   "  ...  to  the  method  of  '  Im- 
manence *  j 

ration  which  remain  perhapi  the 

onlj  one  and  to  which,  In  any  event,  the  former  would 
an    introduction   and   ■    preparation. ' ' 
Preface  to  the  A.bW  Pioardt  book,  p,  vi.»     Sea 

would  ^r"ly    unjust  iin    with    iinmn- 

method   "r 

simply  tendency.     I   !  en  of  his  fidcism 

hut    ti  is  a   ;"■''.; 

.  .    ••  i  neither 

rplicable  aepiration  ntinite, 

otimenl   01    an 

I'Acli,  ,  11    which 

t  ler  the  un\  amiehed  I  ml  h  |  but    1  eombi] 
ami  pi  •  iriv  defined 

11.  that  there  wae  ^ 
■ 
I  Williaa 


Individual  Cases."  73 


dinand  Brunetiere,  although  neither  start- 
ing from  the  same  point  nor  following  the 
same  route,  nevertheless  reached  a  com- 
mon goal;  therefore,  all  these  conversions 
are  unquestionably  "  individual  cases.' ' 
Truth,  which  is  one  and  undivided,  has 
various  aspects  and  each  of  its  innumer- 
able phases  rouses  certain  intellects  and 
touches  certain  hearts  in  some  special  way 
or  at  some  particular  time.  However,  as 
Brunetiere  has  very  justly  observed,  these 
individual  cases  "  nevertheless  have  a 
general  purport  for  the  reason  that  '  no 
motive  of  credibility  '  can  exist,  so  to 
speak,  outside  the  plan  of  Christianity  ' ' : 
therefore  they  can  "be  used  as  a  starting- 
point  for  an  entire  course  in  Apologetics." 
Indeed,  even  if  we  restrict  ourselves  to 


notice,  it  is  evident  that  while  suffering, 
rice,  injustice,  and  social  inequality,  as 
also  noble  souls  enamored  of  the  ideal,  con- 
tinue to  be  found  upon  this  earth,  there 
will  be  occasion  to  urge  upon  men  the 
power  and  fecundity  of  the  Catholic 
Church,  as  it  is  she  who  holds  out  to  all 


74  LatU  r-Day  ( 'onw 


alike,  the  learned  and  the  ignorant,  the 
philosophical  and  the  unsophisticated,  true 
consolation  in  time  of  trial;  courage  to 
rise  after  a  fall;  that  divine  charity  which 
alone   can    heal    the    wound-    of   the   >oeial 

body;  a  deep  psychology;  the  only  moral 
code  that  is  efficacious;  as  likewise  the 
beauty  of  her  liturgy   and  the  touching 

truth    of    her    my>tical    theoh  What 

happen-  to  day  confirms  the  Lessons  of 
terday.  It  were  vain  for  unbelievers 
to  claim  thai  this  Church  L8  worn  out,  that 
she  has  had  her  day.  Conversions,  which 
•  occurring  in  an  endless  chain,  are  the 
living  proof  that  the  serious-minded  and 
honest  hearted  will  always  have  actual 
1 1  a  'or  believing  her  dogmas,  prac 

ticing  her  morality  and  having  recoui 
to  her  Sacraments. 
Eowever,    these    converts    who    have 
i  ued  to  God  "  with  all  their  heart  "  and 
o,  when  lecturing  or  \\  riting  of  their 
new  convictions,  do  bo  with  onmistakable 
iin(  '-lit > .  have  not  been  fortunate  in  v 
ning  complete  approbation.    Yet  does  not 
lerience  teach  Qfl  t  hat    it 


Censorious  Catholics.  75 

impossible  to  satisfy  every  one?  These 
men  have  encountered  all  sorts  of  oppon- 
ents ;  some  among  their  new  brethren  and, 
as  might  be  expected,  others  among  our 
enemies. 

In  fact,  it  must  be  acknowledged,  and 
not  without  regret,  that  Catholics  have  not 
been  unanimous  in  congratulating  them- 
selves upon  the  advent  of  the  vigorous 
helpers  sent  by  God.  This  may  be  ac- 
counted for  by  the  dread  of  a  fresh  im- 
position. Once  or  twice  within  the  last 
twenty  years,  our  good  faith  has  been  so 
rudely  shocked  that  it  behooves  us  to  be 
on  our  guard  and,  according  to  Christ's 
recommendation,  to  unite  the  wisdom  of 
the  serpent  to  the  simplicity  of  the  dove: 
the  children  of  light,  whether  justly  or 
not,  will  never  be  as  vigilant  concerning 
terrestrial  things  as  the  children  of  this 
world.  But  although  the  wise  should  have 
surrendered  to  truth,  some  of  them  have 
persevered  in  their  skepticism  for  a  rea- 
son not  wholly  to  their  credit.  In  the  lives 
or  writings  of  those  recent  converts  they 
have  found  certain  acts  or  sayings  which 


J6  er-Day  ( 'onvi  rts. 

have  impressed  them  unfavorably  and  for 
which  they  could  no!  or  would  not  make  al 
Lowances.  They  have  -imply  forgotten  that 
conversion  is  not  synonymous  with  perfec 
lion,  and  thai  old  habits  are  not  t««  1>"  over- 
come uor  now  ouo  to  be  acquired  in  a  da> . 
It  is  t'ai  easier  t<>  discover  the  mote  in  our 
brother's  eye  khan  to  Bee  the  beam  in  our 
own.     How  much  more  admirable  was  the 
method  adopted  by  a  certain  professor  in 
dealing  with  a  young  confrere.    One  even 
ing  the  former  called  across  the  partition 

that     Beparated     their    tWO     room-  :     "   My 

friend.  1  congratulate  you."    "  On  what. 

I»ra\  .'"     "  ( )n    winding  your  alarm   d 

faithfully   ever)   uight.M    "  Bu1   1  dis 
obey  it  almosi  <-\ ery  morning  by  remain 
ing  in  bed,  bo  I  donM  desei  ve  your  pra 
"Ahl  but  3  "in   perseT  erance  will  Boon 
rewarded. n     We  Bhould  always   practice 
this  Bame  charity,  or   rather  justioe,  by 
forward  with  outstretched  arm-  to 

reel  t  hose  *  I  o  come  to  os  from  afar. 
But,   b  Ferdinand    Bruneti&re   * 

till  the  victim  of  irreal  M  • 


Brunetiere's  Sincerity  Doubted.      11 

a  sharp,  violent,  even  tragic  pessimism  "  •/ 
because  he  continued  to  use  the  chiding, 
critical  tone  which  he  had  sometimes  as- 
sumed against  theologians  and  the  clergy ; 
because  his  mental  habits  differed  from 
ours ;  or  else  because  his  religious  life,  led 
so  humbly  and  unobtrusively,  was  not  as 
brilliant  as  his  political  life,  there  was  a 
hue  and  cry  against  him  and,  despite  his 
most  solemn  affirmation,  the  sincerity  of 
his  conversion  was  questioned.  I  have  al- 
ready mentioned  the  incident  of  his  Letter 
to  the  Bishops  and  how,  in  consequence, 
he  was  called  "  submissionist,"  2  being 
deeply  wounded  by  the  epithet  notwith- 
standing the  fact  that  the  disputatious  are 
accustomed  to  take  these  liberties  with  one 
another.  Moreover,  think  of  all  that  was 
said  about  Huysmans !  Thank  God  he  had 
banished  from  his  heart  the  demon  of  pride 
and  lust  and  his  soul  had  been  transfig- 
ured but,  if  I  may  so  express  it,  his  mind 

i  I  admit  that,  without  any  disparagement,  M.  Victor 
Griraad    (op.  cit.,  p.  25)   applies  these  words  to  the  re- 
tfl  thinker. 

-  He  was  also  called  the  "green  cardinal". 


LatU  r-Day  Convt  rts. 

was    termented    by    the    literary    demon 
which,  although  less  dangerous  than  the 
other,  embittered  hia  artistic  Bense,  drove 
his  realism  to  excess  and  gave  to  hie 
a  peevish,  sarcastic  turn,  thus  Leading  the 
converted  author,  whose  nature  was  no!  yet 
fully  subdued,  to  rebuke  do!  only  the  allies 
whom  he  had  just  abandoned  and  who  were 
soiu. 'time-  contemptible,  but   likewise  his 
oew  co  religionists  whose  virtue  was  in 
sufficient  to  conceal  their  faults  and  weak 
These  men  were  Borely  piqued 
and.  instead  of  closing  their  eyes,   they 
doubted   the   sincerity   of   the   Christian, 
Bneered  at  his  u  equivocal  "  attitude  and 
talked  of  Literary  exploitation.     His  iuti 
mate  friends,  unanimous  in  attesting  the 
purity,  simplicity  and  candor  <>\'  his  faith, 
have  revealed  t<>  us  how  acutely  he  suf 
l  from  this  obstinate  malevolence.    1  f, 
during  his  dreadful  illness,  an}  one  would 
remark  how  touching  was  hi-  resignation, 
he  was  wont  quietly  t«>  replj  i  "  1  hope  that 
thi-  time  they'll  not  say  it  *s  lit*  i 


Buys  mans1  s  Former  Allies.  79 


His  old  self  was  not  quite  dead;  but  then 
we  can  never  succeed  in  wholly  annihilat- 
ing our  baser  nature.  God  undoubtedly 
permits  these,  the  most  trying  of  all  suf- 
ferings, that  the  souls  of  His  new  Chris- 
tians may  be  purified  to  a  still  greater 
degree. 

However,  Huysmans's  former  allies 
were  shrewder.  Irritated  by  conversions 
such  as  his,  which  defeated  their  plans  and 
turned  the  tide  of  victory  in  the  enemy's 
favor,  they  sought  to  further  involve 
matters  by  chiming  in  with  certain  Catho- 
lics, their  real  tactics  being,  as  always,  to 
explain  the  case  from  a  human  viewpoint 
and  thereby  disparage  the  conversion,  thus 
lessening  as  much  as  possible  the  brilliant 
homage  received  from  it  by  the  Catholic 
Church.  And  this  is  perfectly  fair  play. 
In  the  Revue  pratique  d'Apologetique  M. 
Henry  Gaillard  has  referred  to  M.  Sag- 
eret's  book1  on  four  of  the  litterateurs 
whom  I  have  selected  for  the  subject  of 
this  study ;  to  his  ironical  title,  Lcs  Grands 


ber  l.  1906,  pp.  308-313 


80  hatter-Day  ('nun  rts. 

i  .    to    the   perfidious    skill    with 

which  the  quotations  are  either  strtu 
gether  or  mutilated ;  to  the  purpose  appar 
cut  everywhere  and  to  the  jests  intro- 
duced in  lieu  of  argument.  I  Bhall  guard 
against  a  repetition  of  these  merited  ao 
cusations,  desiring  merely  to  lay  stress 
upon  two  points  into  which  the  anticlerical 

writer  seems  t<>  have  injected  more  venom 

than    into   his   other   assertions.      I    find 
them  in  his  I'i <  hi< ,  and  (  m  where 

he  talks  on  all  manner  of  questions  '  but 
jumbles  them  as  if  with  the  deliberate  in 
tention  of  rendering  even  the  simplest  and 
clearest  of  them  complicated  and  obscure; 
in  m\  opinion  it  is  this  ver>  tricker)  that 
constitutes  his  greatest  skill. 

In  the  beginning  of  his  treatise  he  puts 
a  question  which,  at  first  glance,  reveals 

attitude  he  has  assumed  and  pei 
in  maintaining,  and  bespeaks  a  smoulder 
against   the  <  Jhurch.     u  V 

•m.   hell,    • 


M.  SagereVs  Attack.  81 

madness,  then,"  he  asks,  "  impels  the 
Chnrch  and  democracy,  or  at  least 
the  democratic  party,  to  fight  inces- 
santly % ' ' x  The  question  is  badly  formu- 
lated, although  doubtless  designedly  so  and 
with  a  view  to  embittering  the  debate,  as 
I  am  not  aware  that  the  Church  has  ever 
exhibited  any  madness,  I  shall  not  say 
against  democracy  but  against  the  demo- 
cratic party:  she  merely  defends  herself 
against  the  unjustified  attacks  made  upon 
her  and  it  grieves  her  to  be  obliged  to  do 
so.  However,  I  accept  the  question  thus 
formulated.  The  author  adds  that,  to  un- 
derstand and  answer  this  question,  it  is 
necessary  to  interrogate  the  great  con- 
verts of  the  hour,  and  he  maintains  that 
the  result  of  such  an  inquiry  shows  the 
conflict  between  Catholicism  and  demo- 
cracy to  be  both   doctrinal  and   historic, 

1  It  were  perhaps  well  to  remind  the  English  render 
that,  in  monarchical  Europe,  a  sinister  meaning  attaches 
to  the  word  democracy  and  to  its  derivatives— a  mean- 
ing quite  foreign  to  that  understood  by  those  who  are 
not  influenced  by  monarchical  ideas— and  that  such 
sinister  meaning  pervades  European  philosophy,  politics 
.itid  literature.      (Translator's  note.) 


sl'  Luff <  r  Day  ( 'onw  rts. 


that  La  to  Bay,  founded  upon  doctrine  and 

fact-. 

//  is  doctrinal,  Aa  waa  to  be  expected, 
M.  Sageret  sings  the  well-known  tune. 
The  democratic  party  La  free-thought;  and 
free-thought,  be  it  well  understood,  La 
Reason  and  Science.  On  the  contrary, 
Religion,  the  Catholic  Church,  La  faith, 
dogma  blindly  imposed  upon  the  intellect 
and  upon  reason.  "  The  free-thinker  I 
tlio  advantage  because  he  baa  reason  and 
Bcience  entirely  at  his  disposal  (I)1  whore 
as  the  believer  partly  deprives  himself  of 
their  assistance  in  order  to  obey  the  verj 
dogmas  that  he  ia  called  upon  to  defend." 
For  a  hum-  time  religion  ha-  been  Baid  to 
he  opposed  t<>  Bcience  and  reason,  and  1 
am  almost  grateful  t<>  M.  Sageret  for  he 

UQg     -o     generOUfi     a-     ;<»     admit     that     w 

Catholics  can  use  our  reason  even  in  part 
Thus    have    ho    and    his    free  thinki 
brethren  Bettled  the  matter  and  it  would 

•  'ill.  •  ion   poini 

1 1 


Faith,  the  Guide  of  Reason.         83 

perhaps  be  useless  to  remind  them  of  these 
words  of  Ferdinand  Brunetiere:  "  What 
shall  we  do?  Certainly  we  will  not  sacri- 
fice science,  much  less  our  independence  of 
thought.  If  we  do  not  admit  that  science 
can  replace  religion  .  .  .  neither  do  we  ad- 
mit that  religion  is  opposed  to  science. 
Indeed,  the  Church  demands  this  of  no  one 

"  *    To  believe  in  the  Church  is 

not  to  sacrifice  one's  reason  but  simply  to 
provide  it  with  a  guard-rail  that  will  pre- 
vent it  from  falling  into  the  abyss :  dogma 
"  restrains  without  enslaving  us."  It 
might  be  more  expedient  to  repeat  that  we 
do  not  believe  without  motives;  and  even 
— as  was  said  by  M.  de  Lapparent,  a  mas- 

i  Because,  if  well  directed  and  without  bias  or  pre- 
judice, science  could  not  be  contradictory  to  religious 
truth.  It  is  nevertheless  true  that  method,  no  matter 
how  perfect,  is  not  practically  infallible.  Again,  on  the 
other  hand,  science  may  help  to  support  Catholic  dogma, 
and  history  to  furnish  dogmatic  facts.  F.  Brunetiere 
admitted  this  and  hence  readily  acknowledged  that  sci- 
ence and  faith,  although  having  two  distinct  domains, 
can  not  be  completely  isolated  from  each  other.  In 
any  event,  without  enslaving  either  reason  or  science, 
faith  affords  them  "  a  salutary  protection  against  the 
caprices  of  individual  fancy." 


S I  hatter-Day  <  'onv\  rts. 

ter  whom  M.  Sa-ci-ct  will  perhaps  uol 
challenge  —  thai  we  arc  proud  to  place 
these  motives  under  the  lt  protection  of 
the  great  names  of  science,  remembering 
that  those  who  have  most  honored  it. 
Kepler,  Paschal,  Newton,  Ampdre,  Cauchy, 
Eermite  and  Pasteur,  aever  dreamed  thai 
their  discoveries  could  be  in  any  way  re 
sponsible  Tor  weakening  the  strong  con 
victiona  by  which  they  fell  themselves 
animated."  ' 

However,  by  way  of  condemning  it.  M. 
Sageret  calls  attention  to  the  chang 
tactic-  introduced  into  the  defense  by 

\i.  de  Lappareat  ■* 

1,     1:1 
my  turn.  :im   bap  1   it    to   tl.  Dftioned 

n in l  t.»  M.iiut ...  in  death,  th<  id  emi« 

n. -nt    |  '  the    k'lory    <>1"    our    <  v  1 1 

In  reply  .  «  :m  inquiry  M.  dc  Lapparenl 

lie    no   di 
i. ut   thai   frith  an   unfailing  inl 

•  r.>    in\ 

which  il    belp    to    ni'1 


M.  Sageret  on  Catholicism.  85 

Bourget  and  Ferdinand  Brunetiere.  He 
says  that  to-day  one  no  longer  seeks  to  es- 
tablish the  basic  proof  of  faith  and  that 
the  miracle  of  Christ's  resurrection  is  not 
dwelt  upon  nor  brought  forward  as  a  proof 
as  it  was  by  the  Apostles.  The  new  con- 
verts have  made  a  "  deflection.' '  They  go 
to  religion  via  social  utility.  ' '  No  society 
without  ethics;  no  ethics  without  religion; 
consequently,  for  us  Frenchmen,  religion 

is  Catholicism "     Hence,  to  sum  up 

present  religious  polemics  from  the  doc- 
trinal point  of  view,  we  must  needs  imagine 
a  rather  discourteous  dialogue.  "  Thou 
stubborn  fool!"  says  the  anti-clerical  to 
the  Catholic.  "  Criminal!"  replies  the 
Catholic  to  the  anti-clerical,  "  criminal 
who  destroyest  society  so  as  to  amuse  thy 
brain  and  satisfy  thy  baser  instincts!" 
Thus  Catholicism  is  no  longer  a  religion 
but  a  sociology.  M.  Sageret  considers  the 
situation  a  formidable  one.  The  new 
apologists  refuse  to  take  up  the  fight  on 
any  other  ground  than  that  of  social  dis- 
cipline  

This  is  a  manifest  falsehood.     It  is  true 


B6  Latter-Dap  t  }onv(  rts, 

that,  in  the  work  which  Ferdinand  Brum* 
tiere    began,    be    had    developed,    us    M. 
Giraud  said,  "  only  the  fi]  d  the 

road  to  belief  "  and  M.  Giraud  himself 
bad  followed  the  same  order  when  he 
studied  Bocial  morality  on  his  way  to  the 
conquest  of  faith.  However,  Bruneti&re's 
Apologii  was  mol  to  end  there.  He  was 
openly  to  attack  the  difficulties  <>/  believ 
ing,  that  i-  to  Bay,  actual  difficulties,  the 

BCientific,      philosophical,      historical      and 

etical  objections  raised  against  B 
lation  and  also  against  the  universal,  im 
mutabh  hut  nevertheless  progressivi  and 
infallible  < 'hurch.  .  .  .  Here  and  there  l 
he  had  already  outlined  the  principal 
among  those  solutions  thai  he  wished  to 
give  and  finally,  in  the  third  and  Last  Btage 
of  his  great  work,  he  was  to  prove  the 
/in,  >/,  i  in  divinity  of  thi  Christian 
religion.  In  what,  then,  1  ask,  is  there 
••  a   deflection  M   from   t raditional   apolo 

■  i 

.  .  . 

i 


Science  and  Religion.  87 


getics?  I  see  in  all  this  merely  the  adap- 
tation of  the  defense  to  the  needs  of  the 
present  time.  Moreover,  Ferdinand  Brune- 
tiere  was  brave  enough  to  enter  the  strug- 
gle on  no  matter  what  ground,  being  suf- 
ficiently well-equipped  and  well-informed 
to  give  pertinent  and  convincing  answers 
on  all  points,  which  is,  of  course,  the  role 
of  an  apologist. 

We  are  also  reminded  that  Ferdinand 
Brunetiere  and  Paul  Bourget  said: 
"  Science  and  religion  are  upon  two  dif- 
ferent levels ! ' '  and  M.  Sageret  claims  that 
this  will  remain  a  daring  assertion  whilst 
the  Church  continues  to  maintain  her 
present  attitude  towards  history.  To  be- 
lieve that  Christ  rose  physically;  that,  by 
His  miracles,  He  really  violated  the  laws 
of  nature  and  that  a  virgin  brought  forth 
a  son,  is  certainly  to  oppose  science. 
When  there  is  question  of  these  facts,  one 
is  obliged  to  choose  between  science  and 
religion  so  long  as  religion  will  attribute 
to  them  an  historic  reality  or  science  will 
preserve  the  principle  of  the  permanence 
of  facts.     This  conflict  is  positively  irre- 


^v  Latter  D 


ducible.  ...  A  good  solution  would  there 
fore  be  that  of  the  Abbe  Loisy  who,  in  the 
name  of  subjectivisl   philosophy,   wished 
"  to    establish   dogmas    and    historic    re 
search    in    two    absolutely    separate    do 
mains  "  and  who  likewise  maintained  thai 
the  truth  in  dogma  could  be  falsehood  in 
history :  branded  as  a  heretic  to  day  one 

might   be  orthodox  to  morrow ! 

To  this,  Brunetiere  had  replied  in  ad 
vance  by  declaring  thai  such  a  philosophy 
rests   upon  a  gratuitously  affirmed  prin- 
ciple, to  wit :  the  denial  of  t  he  Buperna 
tural.    tl  They  refuse,"  -aid  ho.  Cl  to  be 
liei  e  in  i  Ihrisl  's  resurrection  beoaus 
historian  can  do1  believe  in  the  i 
tion  of  one  dead,  because  a  philosopher 

can    not    admit    anv    d<  Oil    from    the 

laws  of  nature,  and  because,  it"  a  Bcholar 
knows  anything  with  certainty  it  is  thai  a 
tal  man  never  rose  From  the  dead." 
In  his  turn  lie  \  erj  Bensibly  added  i  M 
true  answer  is  that  the  denial  of  the  super 

natural    in    1 1  i  - 1  <  •  i  •  \  II   appears 

the  denial  of  t  he  law  of  history .  and  the 
denial  of  the  supernatural   in  na 


An  "  Irreducible  Conflict."  89 

without  the  shadow  of  a  doubt,  the  denial 
of  the  liberty  of  God."1  Besides,  his- 
tory merely  has  to  register  facts  that  have 
been  duly  established  by  testimony,  but 
the  Church  can  not  mix  with  these  a 
gratuitous  principle  of  Kantian  or  natur- 
alistic metaphysics,  as  did  the  Abbe  Loisy, 
without  contradicting  reason  itself  as 
well  as  the  "  law  of  history."  Hence  the 
"  conflict  "  is  irreducible  only  for  those 
who  deny  the  existence  of  God.  Indeed, 
for  such  as  admit  this  existence,  science 
and  history  are  as  powerless  to  discredit 
the  miracle  as  is  exegesis  to  discredit 
Eevelation.  .  .  . 

However,  the  conflict  is  also  historic, 
that  is  to  say,  social  and  political.  In 
France  the  Church  antagonizes  the  masses. 
She  is  inclined  "  to  become  in  part  (here 
again  M.  Sageret  prudently  keeps  a  loop- 
hole of  escape!)  a  religion  of  the  classes." 
Does  not  J.  K.  Huysmans  declare  that 
"  present  day  Catholicism  flatters  the  rich 

1  Les    dijjbcultSs   dr.    eroire,   in   the    last    vseries    of   the 
in  de  combat,  pp.  212-214. 


90  Latter -Day  Convi  rts. 

and  despises  the  poor?"  According  to 
Paul  Bourget,  the  principal  advanta 
"  the  traditional  religion  of  Prance,  Lies 
in  its  being  the  ever  ready  support  of  an 
aristocratic  leading  class."  The  same 
holds  true  in  politics.  "  It  is  quite  a 
well  known  fact  thai  for  seventy  years  past 
the  vastly  greater  part  of  French  Catholic 
opinion  lias  always  been  more  or  loss  anti- 
republican  or  anti-parliamentarian.  It- 
representatives  -it  on  the  Bight:  al  most, 
only  a  few  will  risk  t  lieinselves  in  the 
Centre.  Even  before  the  reign  o(  the 
IU<>i\  hardly  any  Catholics  were  seen 
either  amongst  the  Socialists  or  the  old 
Opportunists.      Moreover,    the    Dreyfus 

<  lit    had   to  COme!)    showed   Catholics 

banded  together  Tor  an  interest  other  than 
thai  of  their  faith.  .  . 

( >f  con  in-  converts  are  the  fruit 

and  t ho  expression  ^\'  this  t  'atholic  move 
moat."      Our    adversaries    labor    ardn 
ously  to  furnish  proofs  of  this  assertion, 
and  bI  range  t  hough  th<  ••  we 

hall  here  r<  Ml 

,-i  i  «•   Vcndomicinna,  M    Kuysmans 


The  Church  and  Democracy.         91 

ing  of  the  Goncourt  Academy.  All  four 
are  of  the  bourgeoisie:  not  one  of  our 
great  converts  finds  favor  with  the  pro- 
letariat. All  belong  to  the  Opposition: 
Paul  Bourget  is  a  Royalist  and,  if  the  other 
three  are  Republicans,  "  the  present  Re- 
public does  not  excite  their  enthusiasm !' ' 
Besides,  you  know  on  what  side  all  four 
were  ranged  in  the  Dreyfus  Case.  Surely, 
then,  the  Church  has  no  occasion  to  boast 
of  these  new  recruits  who  are  rather  ill- 
fitted  to  promote  her  interests  among  the 
lower  classes. 

Is  there  any  explanation  of  this  Catholic 
movement,  any  cause  for  it?  "  Yes,  tra- 
dition .  .  .  Our  converts  are  all  enthus- 
iastic adherents  of  tradition  and,  for  them, 
the  great  strength  of  Catholicism  lies  in 
tradition.  ...  To  tradition,  and  to  it 
alone,  is  due  democracy's  hostility  to  the 
Church  .  .  .  Catholicism  bears  a  deep  im- 
print of  the  old  regime;  it  remains  re- 
actionary ...  If  circumstances  have  sep- 
arated it  from  the  corpse  of  royalty,  the 
odor  of  the  latter  still  clings  to  it.  Its 
monarchical  instincts  continue  firm  even  in 


92  Latter-Day  ( 'onverts. 

it-  acceptation  of  the  Kepublic;  in  fact, 
most  Catholics  abandon  the  old  parties 
only  to  go  over  to  Nationalism.79-  -Here  M. 
Sagerel  invokes  Paul  Bourget  who  is 
'4  more  clear-sighted  than  his  confreres 
when,  in  the  oame  of  Science,  he  separ- 
ates Catholicism  from  democracy,  for  him, 
Science  being  Tradition!'*  ■  It  was  really 
difficult  for  M.  Sagerel  to  use  the  other 
three  to  this  end. 

Ajs  to  the  remedy,  what  time  has  dene 
time  will,  perhaps,  undo.  Unfortunately 
our  illustrious  converts  are  not  Beeking  a 
solution  of  the  difficulty  when  they  make  a 
social  affair  of  religion;  neither  is  Pius 
\  when,  by  his  definition  ^\'  private  prop 
i  it  v.  he  forbids  <  latholics  to  hold  oollec 

I  iviei    opinion-  ;    and    n«'it  her    is    the    (  Ion 

\1. 

ron.     To   the   latter,   who 
i 
"Dan    maintain    I  ba4    jroro  atifloallj    :» 

trb,  he 

tion,  he  i 


Is  M.  Sageret  Serious?  93 

gregation's  Law  when,  by  destroying  the 
confessional,  i.  e.  Christian  schools  of  the 
lower  classes  and  allowing  those  of  the 
bourgeoisie  to  exist,  it  reduces  "  the 
Catholic  clientele  "  to  a  little  more  than 
half  of  the  bourgeoisie.  .  .  . 

Conclusion:  "  If  we  are  right  in  taking 
the  struggle  between  religion  and  demo- 
cracy seriously,  we  might  perhaps  subject 
ourselves  to  superfluous  nervous  disorders 
by  taking  it  tragically. ' '  It  is  thus  that, 
after  the  fashion  of  Anatole  France,  M. 
Sageret  drops  a  curtsy  to  his  readers  and 
retires. 

Must  he  himself  be  "  taken  seriously  " 
and  receive  an  answer  to  all  his  confused 
arguments  in  which  I  acknowledge  that  an 
ounce  of  truth  is  sometimes  lost  in  a 
jumble  of  errors?  It  will  be  understood 
that  I  say  nothing  of  politics  because  the 
political  question  is  a  burning  one  with 
which  I  have  forbidden  myself  to  meddle. 
Moreover,  instead  of  entering  deeply  into 
the  social  question,  I  shall  content  myself 
with  a  few  concise  remarks,  not  by  way 
of  defending  the  Church— for,  in  so  do- 


94  Latter-Day  Convi  rts. 

ing  1  would  exceed  the  limitations  of  this 
work  hut  of  putting  our  "  converts  M  in 
a  just  Light. 

It  seems  to  me  perfectly  Legitimate  that 
Paul  Bourget  should  interest  himself  in 
the  "  Leading  classes  "  —as  their  abuse  by 
our  democrats  has  been  quite  sufficient  to 
arouse  the  concern  of  a  writer  — and  it' 
oeeds  be,  reprimand  the  people  who  now 
hold  the  reins  of  government.  And  why 
should  these  take  umhraire?  The  mighti- 
est and  un»st  majestic  king  of  the  old 
regime  bore  the  Bevere  admonitions  of 
met  and  Bourdaloue  with  great  pa 
t  ioiicr  and  wherefore,  just  because  he  is  a 
Catholic,  should  M.  Bourget  be  censured 
even  for  his  "  reactionary  "  opinions  1 
l  1.m\  e  we  ever  accused  free  thought  of 
criminality  because  of  the  "  monarchical 
ideas  "  entertained  by  M.  ftfaurras,  one 
of  it-  adherents,  \\  ho  is  in  t  he  Bame  poll 
tic-il  camp  as  M.  Bourget  1  None  of  us 
dreamed  <>f  Mich  a  thing.  Was  qoI 
the  Church,  Bhe  who  belongs  to  qo  party 
nnd  to  no  ca  ate,  founded  Por  all  men :  no! 
<>iil\   for  t  he  poor  and  lo^i  l\   who  u  ill  al 


The  Classes  and  the  Masses.         95 

ways  have  her  preference,  as  they  had  that 
of  Jesus,  but  also  for  the,  rich  and  mighty 
to  whom  she  preaches  the  winning  of  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  through  justice  and 
charity? 

As  to  the  other  three — even  though  they 
are  Academicians — who  can  reasonably  be- 
lieve that  their  words  and  acts  are  op- 
posed to  democracy?  Frangois  Coppee, 
the  poet,  who  could  by  no  means  boast  of 
exclusively  bourgeois  ancestry,  sang  all  his 
life  of  the  lowly.  J.  K.  Huysmans  snubbed 
both  the  classes  and  the  masses,  especially 
the  former,  and  if,  at  Lourdes,  he  paid 
sincere  and  well-deserved  compliments  to 
the  rich  who  become  the  humble  servants, 
litter-bearers  and  nurses  of  the  infirm 
poor,  one  feels  upon  reading  the  books 
written  after  his  conversion,  notably 
Saint e  Ly divine  de  Schiedam  and  Les 
Foales  de  Lourdes,  that  his  most  heartfelt 
sympathy  goes  out  to  the  people.  Would 
it  be  rash  to  maintain  that  the  determining 
occasion  of  Ferdinand  Brunetiere's  con- 
version was  his  conversation  with  Leo 
XIII,  the  great   pontiff  of  the   working- 


96  LatU  r-Day  ( inverts. 

classes  1    Certainly  not;  others  have  said 
so,  in  fact  r  think  even  he  himself.   More 
over,  even  at  the  risk  of  having  the  demo 
cratic  Branetiere  accused  or  snspected  of 
Americanism,  he  who  so  loved  to  bring  up 
the  question  of  the  relations  between  de 
mocracy  and  Catholicism,  T  wish  to  quote 
of  his  which  T  find  highly  Bug 
gestive.      "  I    remember  reading  in  the 
Father  Eecker  that,  after  he  had 
tried  more  than  one  Bed  .  .  .  one  of  the 
most  powerful  and  decisive  reasons  of  his 
final  conversion   to  Catholicism   was   the 
satisfaction  and  the  curb,  the  curb  and  the 
faction  thai  Catholicism  alone  Beemed 
capable  of  giving  to  his  popular  and  d« 
mocratic  instincts.    He  had  begun  .  .  .  bj 
being  b  baker.     I  have  b  ired  thic 

hard  apprenticeship  of  life  but,  like  him, 
in  Catholicism  only  have  I  found  the  curb 
and  the  otion  of  the  Bame  instincts 

and  of  tli<'  Bame  ideal  \r 


Purpose  of  M.  Soger eVs  Book.      97 


Ayant  la  nuque  dure  aux  saluts  inutiles, 

Et  me  derangeant  peu  pour  des  rois  inconnus, 

there  only  have  I  found  the  justification  of 
the  motto  in  which  I  continue  to  believe, 
(Liberty,  Equality,  Fraternity)  and  I  have 
tried  to  show  you  that,  if  its  foundation  is 
to  be  met  with  only  in  the  Christian  idea, 
there  and  there  alone  need  we  look  for  its 
true  interpretation. ' ' x 

With  this  and  similar  asserti6^6  we  can. 
in  the  present  instance,  afford  to  smile  at 
the  efforts  of  M.  Sageret  who,  by  a  series 
of  pin-pricks  endeavors  to  explode  the  im- 
portance of  this  adherence  and  who  doubt- 
less finds  that  with  Brunetiere,  the  Church 
may  really  have  too  much  influence  even 
over  the  terrestrial  interests  of  society. 
It  is  indeed  patent  that  M.  Sageret 's  book 
was  written  merely  with  a  view  to  deaden- 
ing the  blow  which  the  ' '  conversions  ' '  of 
our  new  recruits  dealt  to  the  camp  of  free- 
thought,  and  to  broadening  the  gap,  al- 
ready so  broad  in  France,  between  the 
Church  and  Science,  between  the  Church 

i  Les  raisotis  actuelles  de  croire,  Bee  Disccurs  <h 
bat,  new  series,  pp. 


Latti  r  Day  ( }onv<  rts. 


and  i  lie  People.  Bence  was  1  uol  right  in 
laying  particular  stress  upon  the  value  of 
our  converts'  testimony,  a  value  which  the 
surly  attitude  of  the  enemy  lias  hut  Berved 
to  enhance .' 

V. 

I  would  like  to  discuss  with  you  still  an 
ther  ide.  which  seems  naturally  connected 

iii  i  preceding  ones  and  which,  al 
thouuir of  lesser  moment,  is  certainly  uol 
lacking  in  interest . 

Among   free  thinkers   it    is   understood 
(oral  leasl  ardently  desired)  that  Catho 
lies,    as    such,    have    qo    real    talent    nor 
learning.     When  they  make  a  speech  or 
attempt  to  write,  their  religion,  which  is 

>\ e  and  austere,  renders  them  absolutely 
insipid  and  tiresome;  it  causes  them  to 
adopt  <i  ft  I  >>>  ■'  ttyU   thai  s 

ReUg 
lastic  styh  ;  the  e  are  the  highest  compli 

DientS     that     can     be     paid     to     theii      b 

oratorical  and  i  hetorioal  at  tainments. 
I  togma,  which  en  i  eason,  pn  vents 

all  personal  i  in  the  scienl ific,  his 


A  Deplorable  "  State  of  Soul.'7      99 

torical  or  exegetical  field  because  every- 
thing is  "  dictated  in  advance!"  More- 
over, as  spicy  subjects  are  forbidden 
them,  it  follows  that,  in  the  domain  of  let- 
ters, as  in  that  of  scientific  research,  they 
can  produce  nothing  either  valuable  or 
pleasing.  By  way  of  replying  to  this  di- 
rect imputation,  they  cite  a  few  names, 
for  instance  those  of  Bossuet  and  Pascal — 
not  to  mention  many  others  belonging  to 
the  seventeenth  century  and  a  smaller 
number  belonging  to  the  eighteenth  and 
nineteenth, — and  of  such  scholars  as  Her- 
mite,  Pasteur  and  de  Lapparent,  to  speak 
only  of  the  dead.  But  some  of  these  are 
very  remote  and  others  are  such  rarities ! 
This  opinion,  shrewdly  propagated  by  the 
enemy,  has  become  almost  a  dogma  for 
Catholics  themselves  who,  with  lamb-like 
docility,  accept  the  ready-made  lesson 
and  abide  by  it.  As  a  result,  either  they 
do  not  read  Catholic  authors  at  all  or  else 
read  them  but  very  little,  and  this  "  state 
of  soul,"  which  has  permitted  the  conspir- 
acy of  silence  to  be  organized  against  them 
and  has  favored  this  bias,  nay,  I  shall  even 


100  Luttrr-Day  C<> 

Bay  this  injustice,  has  perhaps  not  yei 
reached  its  limit.  .  .  .  However,  nowadays 
<  latholics  are  becoming  more  courageous 
and  arc  taking  note  of  their  forc< 

Bui    when,    from    the    opposite    camp, 
a    man    of    meat    talent,    a    Louis    Veuillot 

or   a    Ferdinand    Brunetiere  comes    back 

to     the     Church     and     to     God,     there     is 

great  joy  in  the  true  fold  whereas  with 
the  enemy  there  is  bitter  disappointment 
and  suppressed  raj  To  the  one  side 
such  a  conversion  seems  an  extraordinary 
acquisition;  to  the  other,  it  is  a  Bhock 
which,  for  the  moment,  is  bo  paralyzing 
as  to  preclude  all  active  resentment.  Still, 
let  us  beware,  for  the  enemy  is  constantly 
on  the  alert  and  never  disarmed.  After 
Jules  Lemaii re  that  artist  of  exquisite 
taste  with  whom  you  are  acquainted,  that 
writer  whose  language  is  bo  clear  and 
pleasing  went  over  to  Nationalism,  there 
were  Dot  wanting  those  who  declared  that 
the  first  "i"  his  subsequent  books  and  die 
courses   Bhowed   a    strange   deterioration 

both   in   Btyle  and   talent.      Pascal   Wl  - 

tainly  riirhl  when  he  Baid  i hat  -elf  int< 


An  Outrageous  Slander.  101 


is  a  wonderful  instrument  for  the  agree- 
able putting  out  of  one 's  eyes ! x  Hence, 
timidly  at  first,  and,  as  it  were,  slyly,  then 
more  confidently  and  finally  with  a  shrill, 
trumpet-like  voice  it  is  proclaimed  that 
the  neophytes  have  never  had  the  mental- 
ity attributed  to  them  (and  thus  they  are 
outrageously  slandered,)  or  else  that  since 
their  conversion,  there  has  been  an  end 
to  the  vigor  of  their  natural  faculties  and 
the  charm  of  their  style.  Faith  is  an  ex- 
tinguisher: it  is  meet  to  weep  over  these 
extinguished  lights  .  .  .  and  genuine  tears 
(crocodile  tears)  are  shed!  .  .  .  M.  Sageret, 
whom  I  have  so  often  quoted,  openly  ridi- 
cules Huysmans;  jests  about  Coppee's  os- 
tentatious prosaism;  criticises  Bourget's 
1 '  barbarisms  ' '  by  trying  to  show  through 
a  play  upon  words  that  "  he  has  ignored 
the  traditions  of  French  prose  ";  and, 
doubtless  because  unable  to  pick  flaws  in 
Brunetiere's  language,  harps  upon  the 
great  writer's  paradoxical  tone  and  the 
obstinacy  and  "  contradictory  bent  "  of 
his  mind. 

i  Pensees,  art.  3.  3. 


L02  LatU  r  Day  ( 


Perhaps  M.  Sageret's  method  will  find 
favor  with  men  of  Bomais'  type  figuring 
so  prominently  in  the  principal  towns  of 
our  cantons;  perhaps  it  may  even  make 
some  impression  on  weak,  timid  Catholics: 
however,  serious  minded  men  will  only 
shrug  their  shoulders  and.  recalling  the 
latest  productions  o\'  our  converts,  decide 

that    their   new   works   differ   totally    from 
the  old  in  that  they  are  far  more  touching 

and  comprehensive. 

If.  in  his  last  years,  Frangois  Copp6e 
produced  fewer  verses,  the  blame  can  only 
he  laid  to  his  advancing  age  and  the  rack- 
ing pain-  of  disease;  hut.  for  all  that,  La 
Boniti  Souffrana  ia  a  more  affecting 
book  t han  any  of  it-  predecessors. 

And  what  decadence  was  noticeable  in 
Brunetidre's  talent  after  hi-  "  Visit  to  the 
Vatican  ".'    Blessed  with  an  erudition  as 

^i\ e  and  a-  well  sustained 
did  he  uot  remain  the  Bame  vigor 
Boner,    the    Bame    eloquent    logician,    the 
same  forceful  thinker  with.  how. 
ditional  intensity   of  com  iotion       I  is  in 
tellect  broadened  instead  of  shrink  in?,  and 


Ennobling  Effect  of  Catholicism.     103 


his  heart  imbibed  from  faith  a  new  ar- 
dor which  was  communicated  to  his  hear- 
ers and  readers  through  the  medium  of  his 
lectures  and  his  books. 

Catholicism  has  refined  and  purified 
Paul  Bourget's  psychology.  To  be  sure, 
since  his  return  to  God,  the  author  has 
solved  fewer  cruel  enigmas  and  related 
fewer  crimes  of  love;  but  who  bemoans  the 
fact?  His  social  romances  such  as 
L'Etape,  Un  Divorce  and  L' Emigre,  have 
abundantly  compensated  us.  Besides,  if 
these  books  indicated  a  lack  of  ability,  do 
you  suppose  that  they  would  be  so  fiercely 
attacked  on  all  sides? 

As  to  J.  K.  Huysmans,  even  if  he  re- 
tained some  or  nearly  all  the  defects  of 
his  earlier  days,  how  conspicuously  and 
how  imposingly  do  not  his  good  qualities 
stand  out  in  his  later  works!  La  Catlie- 
drale,  Sainte  Lydwine,  L'Oblat  and  espe- 
cially Les  Foules  de  Lourdes,  contain  some 
very  substantial  pages  which  are  not  only 
charming  and  eloquent  but  fairly  vibrating 
with  truth  and  palpitating  with  life. 

We  Catholics  can  afford  to  be  somewhat 


1()4  hatter-Day  t  onvi  rts. 

proud  o!'  all  this.  Our  faith,  far  from  in- 
juring art,  purifies  and  ennobles  it;  opens 
up  to  it  uew  horizons;  imparts  to  it  a  full, 
aant  ring  and  a  captivating  eloquence 
formerly  unknown  to  it.  likewise  a  fresh, 
bright  hue  which  causes  all  the  Lodges  of 
the  universe  to  wither  up  with  spite. 

VI. 

The  ( Ihurch,  then,  ha-  ltooiI  reason  to 

rejoice  and  take  pride  in  the  recruits  who 

come  to  .-well  her  army.     By  going  forth 
in  each  age  to  place  themselves  under  her 
standard,  they  are  a  peremptory  proof  of 
her  dh  ine  vitality  and  also  of  that  marvel 
oiis  plasticity  which,  notwithstanding  the 
immutability  of  her  faith  and  morals,  has 
enabled  her  to  adapt  herself  to  all  times. 
.  climates,  civilizations  and  intellects. 
as  well  a-  to  the  most  diverse  tempera 
ments.     According  to  the  recommendation 
of  her  Divine  Pounder  -he  goes  tin 
the  world  preaching  t<>  ever]   creature  a 
duct rine  that   -< *em     hard    d  I  hie 

inasmuch  a-  it  sui 

'     :      V. 


Perennial  Youth  of  the  Church.    105 


son  and  thwarts  our  imperious  passions; 
nevertheless,  she  commands  attention  and 
men  of  the  finest  intellect,  when  not  vic- 
tims of  the  corroding  cancer  of  pride,  have 
been  fonnd  mingling  with  the  eager 
throngs  of  simple,  lowly  believers  who  be- 
siege her  pulpits  and  reverently  obey  her 
commandments.  This  is  because  Christ 
is  ever  young,  ever  living  and  victorious. 
He  was  yesterday;  He  is  to-day;  He  will 
be  to-morrow  and  the  Catholic  Church,  the 
work  of  Christ  which  His  enemies  pro- 
claim to  be  always  moribund,  participates 
in  His  unchangeable  youth  and  undying 
life.  She  takes  noble  revenge  upon  her 
adversaries  by  praying  for  them  and  then 
by  making  magnificent  conquests  among 
them. 

These  chosen  recruits  are  a  specific  re- 
ply to  the  erroneous  but  quite  widespread 
assertion  according  to  which  "  the  be- 
liever believes  and  scarcely  thinks  ",  be- 
cause it  is  said  that  "  even  though  intel- 
ligent, he  does  not  know  why  he  is  a 
Catholic   if   he    lias   never   ceased   to   be 


106  Lath  r-Day  (  Ourerts. 


one;  "  '  and  indeed  it  is  possible  that  some 
intelligent  men  thus  content  themselves, 
although  wrongfully,  with  the  unquestion- 
ing  faith  of  the  unlettered.  At  all  event-. 
those  who  renounce  incredulity  for  faith, 

reach    their    decision    only    after    linn 

heart  wrench,  after  deep  reasoning  and 
earnest  reflection  and.  on  this  account,  the 
which  they  take  is  quite  as  gratify- 
ing to  u-  as  it  is  galling  to  contentious 
unbelievers, 

At    the  same  time,  owing  to  this  travail 

>ul,  they  are  letter   [ualified  : 

>ach  us  what  'a  tuatty  oonstit  utes 
■  •   i    i ildiera  <• 

< 'I  arch  and  those  of  the  u  world 
stione   the  Boience  of  the  day   n 

•  our  faith  and  bj  what  defense  and 

tnenl  -   tl  ise  obj<  1 1  ions  may  be  met 

Men  of  this  type  Bhed  a  great   light   on 

,iu-  •  their  hesitations  and 

t in  ir  of  i he  Bame  val 

apply  H  3tudj 

of  religion,  and  out 


Value  of  Newman  as  a  Convert.    107 

lines   of  the  pictures   of  the  masters  to 
pupils  who  would  learn  to  draw  and  paint. 
After  all,  could  not  a  Paul,  brought  up  in 
Judaism  and  Hellenism,1  or  an  Augustine, 
who  had  plodded  through  Greek  and  Bo- 
man  philosophy  and  wandered  into  Mani- 
ehaeism,  more  effectually  teach  others  how 
to  direct  their  efforts?     However,  without 
bringing  these  into  the  case  or,  above  all, 
comparing  them  with  our  modern  converts, 
as   the   one  was   directly  enlightened  by 
Christ  and  the  other  is  perhaps  the  great- 
est genius  of  Christianity,  are  not  a  New- 
man and  a  Manning  of  incomparable  value 
to  us  in  the  conflict  of  ideas  wherein  the 
fate  of  souls  is  at  stake!     So  also,  due  al- 
lowance being  made,  is  a  Ferdinand  Brune- 
tiere,  although  I  do  not  dream,  even  in  a 
most  remote  way,  of  classifying  him  as  a 
Father  of  the  Church.     Perhaps  you  re- 
member the  plan  of  action  that  he  mapped 
out    at    Tours,    July    23,    1901,    for    la 
Jeunesse    CathoUque,    and   which,   if   not 
complete,  was  at  least  vei  stantial  and 

1  At    Tarsus    where    there    were    celebrated    schools. 


108  Latter-Bay  Conv 


beautiful.      By    your    kind    leave    we   shall 

lead  it  over  together  so  that  we  may 
enjoy  its  simple  grandeur  and  appropri- 
ates 

"...  Look  at  things  as  they  are.1 
You  are  dealing  with  men  of  intellectual 
pride  and  any  advantage  you  gain  over 
them  is  achieved  in  spite  of  them.  They 
must  be  shown  that,  regardless  of  certain 
scholars,  Bcience  never  could  and  never 

shall  prejudice  the  claims  of  religion. 
1  They  are  separate  domain-  \  -aid  Claude 

Bernard,  'in  which  each  thing  must   re 

main  in  its  place  \      And  he  added:  '  This 

is  the  only  way  to  avoid  confusion  and  in 

sine  progress  in  the  physical,  intellectual. 

political  and  moral  order.1    To  these  in 

tellectuals    it    mU8t    he    made    known    that 

science  has  nol   suppressed  mystery  an] 
than   the   immutability    <>\'  nature's 

laws    ha-,    BO    to  1    the    world 

against  the  action  oi  rnatural.     it 

he  made  clear  to  them  that,  fai 
opposing  the  development  of  re 

quiring  th«   n 


Christianity  and  True  Progress.     109 

gress,  immutability  of  dogma  is  that  on 
which  this  progress  depends ;  that  this  im- 
mutability of  dogma  is  the  sole  basis  of 
morality,  if  there  be  no  morality  without 
an  imperative  voice  to  command  and  a 
sanction  to  guarantee  it;  that  this  moral- 
ity, the  morality  of  the  Decalogue  and  of 
the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  is  the  common, 
indivisible,  universal  and  inalienable  pos- 
session of  all  humanity ;  that  true  progress, 
perhaps  the  only  progress  worthy  of  the 
name  .  .  .  ,  would  be  to  succeed  in  en- 
graving upon  all  hearts  the  ordinances 
of  this  moral  code,  and  finally,  that  Chris- 
tianity alone  is  capable  of  furthering  and 
maintaining  this  progress:  I  mean  Chris- 
tianity purged  of  all  party  spirit  and  re- 
stored, so  to  speak,  to  its  universality. ' ' 1 
The  quotation  is  somewhat  lengthy,  but 
I  feared  to  abridge  it  lest,  by  so  doing,  I 
should  fail  to  convey  a  just  impression  of 
the  services  which  the  Church  may  expect 
from  minds  of  this  calibre,  when  they  are 
drawn   to   her   by   the   magnet    of   truth. 

1  L' Action    eatholiqtie,   see   Discours  de   combat;   new 
J,  pp.  119-120. 


1  lo  LatU  r-Day  <  }onv<  rts. 


Having  become  a  Bincere  Catholic  the  Lec- 
turer would  now  and  then,  i  aion  pre 
aented  itself,  develop  this  plan  or  rather 
these  few  ideas  that  were  bo  dear  to  him, 
intending  to  treat  them  at  greater  length 
in  his  apology.    The  day  after  bis  death 

another     Academician     remarked     that     lie 
W8L&  •'  one  of  the  few  eoiit  nnj  -ora  ry  Cath- 
olic Laymen  who  had  read  the  Sutnti 
st.  Thomas  and  the  only  oi  potent  to 

rewrite  that  Summo  for  our  time 

Who  know-,  and.  besides,  what  are  sueli 

opinions  worth:  Nevertheless,  in  paying 
this  tribute  to  the  champion  who  fell  be- 
fore the  allotted  time  of  man.  M.  de  V 

intended  to  praise  the  vastness  of  Brune 
ti&re's  erudition,  which  was  always  abreast 
of  the  times,  and  the  exceptions 
of  his  reasoning.    I  Lowe^  er,    and  this 
elusion  of  my  wort   ma]    Burprise  more 
i han  one  of  ni\   readei       l     hould  prefer 

the   rewriting  of  th 
Buch  a  task  possible  t<»  any  contemporary  . 
be  done  i>\  one  whose  intellect  had  ne\ ei 

lohoir  -l. 

in   0 


The  Rewriting  of  the  "  Summa."    Ill 

been  tainted  by  error  and  heresy.  Con- 
sider what  even  in  this  our  enlightened 
day,  happens  to  Newman's  name  and  doc- 
trine and  think  how  grieved  the  illustrious 
convert  would  be  to  see  that  notwithstand- 
ing the  absolute  purity  of  his  intentions, 
which  are  clearly  hostile  to  Modernism, 
and  the  perfect  serenity  of  his  faith,  there 
are  some  in  England  and  here  in  France 
who  falsely  interpret  his  teaching.  This 
is  because,  in  spite  of  our  relinquishment 
of  them,  intellectual  habits  leave  a  last- 
ing impression  on  the  soul.1  Hence  it  is 
that,  for  the  rewriting  of  the  Summa,  I 
should  recommend  a  great  mind  trained 
from  infancy  in  the  appreciation  of  Catho- 
lic truth  and  keenly  alive  to  the  needs  and 
aspirations  of  its  time;  a  resurrected 
Thomas  Aquinas,  a  non-Gallican  Bossuet 

1  Such  men,  honorable,  intelligent  and  Christian 
though  they  l>e,  do  not  always  prove  themselves  "pru- 
dent to  the  point  of  scrupulosity  nor  distrustful  to  the 
point  of  prejudice,  where  novelties  of  doctrine  are  con- 
cerned." I  highly  appreciate  the  sentiment  thus  ex- 
pressed by  Louis  Veuillot  who  himself  was  such  an  ad- 
mirable convert  and  valiant  soldier  of  the  Catholic 
Church. 


1  1l!  Latti  r-Day  Convi  rts. 

or,  not  to  Boar  so  high,  a  Pie,  a  Preppel  or 
a  d'Hnlst.  .  .  .  Lei  such  a  one  arise  and, 
amid  the  chaos  of  bo  many  dashing 
opinions,  come  to  our  assistance  and  build 
for  as  that  "  palace  of  ideas  "  wherein 
other  wanderers,  tired  of  ever  evolving 

kerns,  may  rest  Tor  a  time  in  peace 
soul   and   in  the  happiness  of  Light    and 
truth !     Exoriare  aliquisl 

Meanwhile,  Lei  as  give  thanks  to  God  for 
rescuing  these  men  of  brilliant   LntelL 
from  the  encircling  -loom  of  error  and 
Leading  them  hack  to  the  Light  of  truth 
ami  the  bosom   of  the  Catholic  Chur 
there  to  be  a  victorious  testimony  in  her 
favor  and  her  champions  in  time  of  con 
flirt.     Since   their  conversion   they   have 
proved  by  the  arguments  written  in  t ] 
bo<  also  by  their  personal  experi 

ence,  thai  the  ceaseless  yearning  of  everj 
human  heart  for  (\oi\.  can  oever  be  wholly 

kisfied  i    the    Catholic    Church. 

Thou  hast  made  as  for  Thyself, 
I  ."id.  and  our  hearts  are  restless  till  I 
in  The 


Date 

Due 

J    1  If 

' 

9 

22^.39 
C--8L 


.Crasnier,  ..  :iis 


-Latter-day  converts. 


BORROWER'S    NAME 


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